Enhanced functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) in patients with spleen deficiency syndrome: A resting-state fMRI study

Numerous studies had investigated the biological basis of spleen deficiency syndrome on gastrointestinal dysfunctions. However, little was known about neuropsychological mechanism of spleen deficiency syndrome. The default model network (DMN) plays an important role in cognitive processing. Our aim is to investigate the change of neuropsychological tests and DMN in patients with spleen deficiency syndrome. Sixteen patients and 12 healthy subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging examination, and 15 patients with spleen deficiency syndrome and 6 healthy subjects take part in the two neuropsychological tests. Compared with healthy subjects, patients with spleen deficiency syndrome revealed significantly increased functional connectivity within DMN, and significantly higher in the scores of 2-FT (P = .002) and 3-FT (P = .014). Our findings suggest that patients with spleen deficiency syndrome are associated with abnormal functional connectivity of DMN and part of neuropsychological tests, which provide new evidence in neuroimaging to support the notion of TCM that the spleen stores Yi and domains thoughts.