AUTHOR=Lan Xi , Niu Xuan , Bai Wei-Xian , Li Hai-Ning , Zhu Xin-Yi , Ma Wen-Jun , Li Jian-Long , Dun Wang-Huan , Zhang Ming , He Juan 

TITLE=The functional connectivity of the basal ganglia subregions changed in mid-aged and young males with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=16

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.1013425

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2022.1013425

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>The Basal ganglia (BG) played a crucial role in the brain-level mechanisms of chronic pain disorders. However, the functional changes of BG in chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) are still poorly understood. This study investigated the BG subregions’ resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in CP/CPPS patients compared with healthy controls.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Twenty eight patients with CP/CPPS and 28 age- and education-matched healthy males underwent clinical measurements and 3T brain MR imaging, including T1-weighted structural images and resting-state functional imaging. The data were analyzed by the seeded-based rs-FC analysis. Then, a machine learning method was applied to assess the feasibility of detecting CP/CPPS patients through the changed rs-FC.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Compared with healthy males, patients presented decreased rs-FC between the BG subregions and right middle cingulate cortex, and correlated with pain (<italic>r</italic> = 0.51, p-uncorrected = 0.005) and urinary symptoms (<italic>r</italic> = –0.4, p-uncorrected = 0.034). The left superior temporal gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus showed decreased rs-FC with the BG subregions as well. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.943 (accuracy = 80%, F1-score = 80.6%) was achieved for the classification of CP/CPPS patients and healthy males with support vector machine (SVM) based on the changed rs-FC.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>These findings provide evidence of altered BG subregions’ rs-FC in CP/CPPS, which may contribute to our understanding of the BG’s role in CP/CPPS.</p></sec>