Relation of Decreased Functional Connectivity Between Left Thalamus and Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus to Emotion Changes Following Acute Sleep Deprivation

Objective: The thalamus is a key node for sleep-wake pathway gate switching during acute sleep deprivation, and studies have shown that it plays a certain role in mood change. However, there are no studies on the association between the thalamus and mood change in the case of acute sleep deprivation. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore whether changes in functional connections between the thalamus and other brain regions are related to changes in mood and further explored the function of the thalamus under acute sleep deprivation conditions. Method: Thirty healthy, right-handed adult men underwent mood assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans before and after acute sleep deprivation. We assessed mood changes using the Profile of Mood States Scale and functional connectivity changes using region of interest to region of interest analysis. Results: There were a variety of mood changes during acute sleep deprivation in which positive emotions and psychomotor performance were reduced, and negative emotions were increased. We found that the functional connections between the left thalamus and left middle temporal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, right thalamus, right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal pole gyrus, right calcarine, left cuneus, left rectus, and left medial superior frontal gyrus were changed to a statistically significant extent; the functional connections between the right thalamus and right middle temporal gyrus and left medial superior frontal gyrus were also changed to a statistically significant extent. The decrease in functional connectivity between the left thalamus and left orbital inferior frontal gyrus was correlated with the change of mood. The decrease in functional connectivity between the left thalamus and left opercular inferior frontal gyrus was also correlated with the change of mood. Conclusion: Our study finds that functional changes in the thalamus are associated with changes in mood during acute sleep deprivation, which suggests that the left thalamus plays a vital role in mood changes, while hemispheric asymmetry before and after acute sleep deprivation suggests that the left thalamic emotion regulation circuit may be more involved in emotional changes under acute stress conditions.