Cortical thickness reductions associate with abnormal resting-state functional connectivity in non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus

To detect the abnormal cortical thickness and disrupted brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without neuropsychiatric symptoms (non-NPSLE). Using T1-weighted 3D brain structural data, we first determined the regions with abnormal cortical thickness in a cohort of 33 adult female non-NPSLE patients. By taking brain regions with significantly reduced cortical thickness as the seeds, we calculated their RSFC based on the resting-fMRI data and detected the relationship between the RSFC and cortical thickness in the non-NPSLE patients. Compared to the controls, the non-NPSLE patients showed significantly cortical thinning in the left fusiform gyrus (FUS.L), left lingual gyrus (LING.L), right lingual gyrus (LING.R) and left superior frontal cortex (SFC.L). As for the RSFC, statistical analyses indicated that the abnormal cortical thickness in LING.L is associated with increased RSFC in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC.L), and cortical thinning in SFC.L associated with decreased RSFC in left cerebellum 6 (CRBL 6.L) in non-NPSLE patients. In addition, in non-NPSLE patients, the decreased cortical thickness in LING.L was correlated to the increased RSFC in PCC.L, and decreased cortical thickness in SFC.L was correlated to the decreased RSFC in CRBL 6.L. Our findings suggest that the cortical abnormalities may affect brain intrinsic connectivity in non-NPSLE patients.