Altered Functional Network Associated With Cognitive Performance in Early Parkinson Disease Measured by Eigenvector Centrality Mapping

Abstract

Objective: To investigate relationships between whole-brain functional changes and the performance of multiple cognitive functions in early Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods: In the current study, we evaluated resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) data and neuropsychological assessments for various cognitive functions in a cohort with 84 early PD patients from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). Eigenvector centrality (EC) mapping based on rsfMRI was used to identify the functional connectivity of brain areas correlated with different neuropsychological scores at a whole-brain level. Results: Our study demonstrated that in the early PD patients, scores of Letter Number Sequencing (LNS) were positively correlated with EC in the left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) and lingual gyrus. The immediate recall scores of Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) were positively correlated with EC in the left superior frontal gyrus. No correlation was found between the EC and other cognitive performance scores. Conclusions: Functional alternations in the left occipital lobe (inferior occipital and lingual gyrus) and left superior frontal gyrus may account for the performance of working memory and immediate recall memory, respectively in early PD. These results may broaden the understanding of the potential mechanism of cognitive impairments in early PD.

Modulation of network centrality and gray matter microstructure using multi‐session brain stimulation and memory training

“…The chosen eigenvector centrality mapping (ECM) approach allows for assumption‐free analysis of functional network connectivity (Chase et al, 2020 ; Meinzer et al, 2015 ). Graph theoretical approaches have previously been reported to detect network correlates of cognitive functions in health and disease, and modulations of these functions induced by transcranial electrical stimulation (Antonenko, Nierhaus, Meinzer, et al, 2018 ; Arnemann et al, 2015 ; Binnewijzend et al, 2014 ; Cao et al, 2020 ; Gundlach et al, 2020 ; Lou et al, 2015 ; Meinzer et al, 2012 ; Meinzer et al, 2013 ; Schoonheim et al, 2014 ; Sehm et al, 2012 ). Interestingly, tDCS‐induced increase as well as decrease in network centrality has previously been associated with improved behavioral performance (Meinzer et al, 2012 ; Meinzer et al, 2015 ; Sehm et al, 2012 ).…”

Brain connectivity for subtypes of parkinson’s disease using structural MRI

“…Moreover, the traditional concept -frontal region to be the primary cortical substrate for working memory and executive function-related tasks -supports our findings. A previous study [69] on the whole brain of early Parkinson's patients observed verbal memory positively correlating with functional connectivity of SFG. In addition, Hou et al [70] demonstrated that functional connectivity between the inferior parietal and bilateral superior frontal gyrus is associated with improved memory function in drugnaïve PD patients.…”

Investigation of linear and non-linear functional connectivity within resting-state networks using graph theory in Parkinson's disease

“…Also, Left Inferior Temporal Gyrus of the mentioned network was found using local e ciency and Betweenness centrality with KMI. Cao et al(Cao et al 2020) also found that eigenvector centrality of the superior frontal gyrus correlated signi cantly with neuropsychological scores. We also found this region to be signi cant using page rank centrality and degree only with KMI as well as Betweenness centrality with both KMI and MI.Hall et al(Hall et al 2018) found Thalamus contributes to Parkinson's disease in participation coe cient, which is in line with our results.…”