Globus pallidus externus correlates with arousal in disorders of consciousness: a resting-state functional MRI study

Our findings provide neuroimaging evidence of disrupted functional connectivity between GPe and distributed cortical regions, including the left middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, CL, and right precentral gyrus, CL. These connectivity abnormalities spanning executive control, default mode, and primary motor networks suggest their coordinated role in consciousness impairment. Notably, arousal levels positively correlated with FC between GPe and cortical regions, specifically the left superior frontal gyrus, while negatively correlating with FC between GPe and CL. This suggests that altered GPe-cortical and GPe-thalamic FC may underlie the neural substrate for arousal regulation in patients with DoC.