Functional MRI study of insula in the task-state and resting-state / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the activated status of insula during the performance of word generation task, and to explore the function of different part of insula with functional MRI (fMRI). Methods Twenty-eight subjects were recruited in this study (male 15, female 13), all of them underwent block-designed fMRI with word generation tasks and resting-state scan. SPM 5 and REST 1.3 were used to process the data. Bilateral anterior insula and posterior insula were selected as seeds to calculate the connectivity coefficiency with other voxels, and differences between the anterior and the posterior insula were compared. Results Bilateral anterior insula was significantly activated, while bilateral posterior insula was significantly deactivated. The functional connectivity areas with left anterior insula included right anterior insula, right posterior insula, supplementary motor area (SMA), left superior temporal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal lobe, middle cingulate gyrus, right striatum and right inferior frontal gyrus. The functional connectivity areas with left posterior insula included right posterior insula, left anterior insula, right superior temporal gyrus, middle cingulate gyrus, right precentral gyrus and right striatum. The functional connectivity areas with right anterior insula included SMA, left inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobe, left inferior parietal lobe, left superior temporal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, right striatum, middle cingulate gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left striatum, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus and left transverse temporal gyrus. The functional connectivity areas with right posterior insula included right precentral gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left anterior insula, left posterior insula, right supramarginal gyrus and middle cingulate gyrus. Conclusion Anterior insula and posterior insula are functionally connected with different areas, and concerned with the language function in different manners. Left lateral anterior insula may play an important role in the language function.