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• Clinical Article •
Alterations in the structures of subcortical nuclei and structural covariance network properties in classic trigeminal neuralgia
WANG Danyang  JIANG Jingqi  YUAN Wenhuan  ZHANG Pengfei  MA Xiaojin  ZHANG Jing 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.01.003.


[Abstract] Objective To explore the variation characteristics of gray matter volume (GMV) and GMV-based structural covariance network (SCN) of subcortical nuclear structures in patients with classic trigeminal neuralgia (CTN).Materials and Methods The 3D-T1WI structural image data of 55 patients with classic CTN and 59 healthy controls were prospectively collected, and the GMV of bilateral thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala subregions was extracted, and calculate the SCN at the group level based on the GMV of each subject. Compare the differences in GMV and SCN parameters between the two groups respectively.Results CTN patients showed volume reduction in the left anteriorventral, paracentral, parafascicular, right laterodorsal, central medial, reuniens medial ventral and bilateral ventromedial in the subregions of the thalamus (P < 0.001). In the amygdala subregion, the volumes of the right accessory basal nucleus, the anterior amygdaloid area, the cortico-amygdaloid transition area, and the bilateral cortical nucleus (P < 0.001) decreased; in the hippocampal subregion, the volume of the left cornu ammonis 4-body and the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus-body (P ≤ 0.001) decreased. Partial correlation analysis indicated that the duration of pain in the CTN patient group was negatively correlated with the volumes of the left ventromedial, the left parafascicular, the right ventromedial and the right central medial (rs = -0.397, P = 0.003; rs = -0.435, P < 0.001; rs = -0.306, P = 0.023 and rs = -0.323, P = 0.016, respectively), the score of the self-rating anxiety scale was positively correlated with the volume of the right cortico-amygdaloid transition area and the right accessory basal nucleus (rs = 0.257, P = 0.059 and rs = 0.349, P = 0.009, respectively). The small-world index of SCN in the CTN group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05).Conclusions The important subregions of subcortical nuclear structure in CTN patients show volume reduction and changes in network properties. These findings suggest that the alterations in subcortical nuclear structure and structural covariance network characteristics, as potential structural feature markers of CTN, are expected to provide new targets for pain treatment.
[Keywords] classic trigeminal neuralgia；magnetic resonance imaging；gray matter volume；structural covariance network；thalamus；hippocampus；amygdala

WANG Danyang1, 2, 3   JIANG Jingqi1, 2, 3   YUAN Wenhuan1, 3   ZHANG Pengfei1, 2, 3, 4   MA Xiaojin1, 2, 3   ZHANG Jing1, 2, 3*  

1 Department of Magnetic Resonance, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou 730030, China

2 Second Clinical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China

3 Gansu Province Clinical Research Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging,Lanzhou 730030, China

4 Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China

Corresponding author: ZHANG J, E-mail: ery_zhangjing@lzu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-07-21
Accepted  2025-11-28
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.01.003
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.01.003.

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