Structure/function alterations and related neurotransmitter activity maps in high myopia patients

This study explored the relationship between brain structure and functional pattern as well as the potential neurotransmitter activity alterations in patients with high myopia (HM). Total 33 HM patients and 31 healthy controls were included. Gray matter volume (GMV) was employed to represent brain structure indicator, and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was used as an indicator of function. Use the data fusion method of parallel independent component analysis (ICA) to identify the independent components of two patterns and analyze the relationship between them. The spatial correlations between the altered ICA value and neurotransmitter maps were calculated. The results show that there is a significantly related sets of independent components (GMV_IC5 and ALFF_IC4) between the HM and healthy control groups in terms of structure and function. The structural components mainly include the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, cingulate gyrus, and occipital lobe; the functional components are primarily composed of the precuneus, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, and lingual Gyrus. The change value of GMV_IC5 is significantly correlated with serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor (subtype 1a, 1b and 2a), dopamine D1, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAa), and metabotropic glutamate receptor 5; while, the altered ALFF in ALFF_IC4 is significantly correlated with serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor subtype 2a, dopamine D1, and GABAa. Research results suggest the structural and functional components that change together reflect the association between the visual brain regions and the temporal-frontal areas in HM, as well as their correlation with serotonin receptors, dopamine, and the GABA neurotransmitter system.