Fig. 3: Association of DBS connectivity and tic reduction.
From: A critical role of action-related functional networks in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
a In a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis, we correlated the percentage tic reduction after DBS with the respective connectivity of stimulation sites (N = 37) with the cingulo-opercular (CON) (top left) and somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) (top right). Non-parametric permutation testing using Spearman rank correlations (two-tailed, no correction for multiple comparisons) revealed a significant positive relationship between tic reduction and connectivity with the CON (r = 0.62, p = 0.0002) and SCAN (r = 0.47; p = 0.002), indicating that greater connectivity between the DBS sites and these networks is associated with more substantial reductions in tic severity. b Compared to other large-scale resting-state, only CON and SCAN showed a significant positive association with tic reduction (permutation test for two-tailed Spearman rank correlations, corrected for multiple comparisons with pFDR < 0.05; marked with asterisks). c A post-hoc comparison revealed strong and significant associations between tic reduction after DBS and connectivity with the inferior (r = 0.596; p = 0.0002) and middle (r = 0.513; p = 0.0002) inter-effector regions, while connectivity to the superior inter-effector region showed a weak association (r = 0.276; p = 0.052) (permutation tests for two-tailed spearman rank correlations, not corrected for multiple comparisons). d Computing a data-driven, whole-brain voxel-wise model of optimal brain connectivity for tic reduction, termed R-map, clusters with a significant (pFDR < 0.05) positive association between connectivity and tic reduction (red clusters) closely aligned with the CON. Within M1, the middle and inferior inter-effector regions of the SCAN were involved. Significant negative associations between connectivity and tic reduction are indicated in blue. e Subcortically, the insular clusters of the Tic-Reduction R-map further encompassed the posterior claustrum and small parts of the posterior putamen (z = 1). All scatter plots include linear trend lines with 95% confidence bounds. a = anterior; p = posterior; l = left; r = right.
