Structural Brain Network Disruption at Preclinical Stage of Cognitive Impairment Due to Cerebral Small Vessel Disease. (21st November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Du, Jing; Zhu, Hong; Zhou, Jie; Lu, Peiwen; Qiu, Yage; Yu, Ling; Cao, Wenwei; Zhi, Nan; Yang, Jie; Xu, Qun; Sun, Junfeng; Zhou, Yan
• Is Part Of: Neuroscience. Volume 449(2020)
• Page Start: 99
• Page End: 115
• Publication Date: 2020-11-21
• Subjects: CMBs cerebral microbleeds -- CSVD cerebral small vessel disease -- DTI diffusion tensor imaging -- EPVS enlarged perivascular spaces -- MCI mild cognitive impairment -- NBS network based statistic -- PCI preclinical cognitive impairment -- svMCI subcortical vascular MCI -- WMHs white matter hyperintensities; cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) -- preclinical cognitive impairment (PCI) -- structural brain network -- diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) -- rich-club; Neurochemistry -- Periodicals; Neurophysiology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Neurochimie -- Périodiques; Neurophysiologie -- Périodiques; Neurochemistry; Neurophysiology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.08.037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4522

Abstract

Highlights: Disruption of peripheral structural connections appears at the preclinical stage (PCI) of CSVD. Hub and rich-club disruption could mark the distinction between PCI and MCI of CSVD. Rich-club connection strength relates to cognition in MCI, serving as a key substrate for cognitive status transition. NBS reveals a diffuse pattern of alteration in CSVD and validated the results on disruption of rich-club organization. Abstract: Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a common disease among elderly individuals and recognized as a major cause of vascular cognitive impairment. Recent studies demonstrated that CSVD is a disconnection syndrome. However, due to the covert neurological symptoms and subtle changes in clinical performance, the connection alterations during the stage of preclinical cognitive impairment (PCI) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are usually neglected and still largely unknown. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we investigated the early structural network changes in PCI and MCI patients. The PCI group demonstrated well preserved rich-club organization, less nodal strength loss, and disruption of connections centered in the feeder and local connections. Nevertheless, the MCI group manifested a disruption in the rich-club organization, a worse nodal strength loss especially in hub nodes, and an overall disturbance in rich-club, feeder and local connections. Moreover, in all CSVD patients, the strength of the rich-club, feeder and local connections was significantly correlated with multiple cognitive scores, especially in attention, executive, and memory domains; while in MCI patients, only the strength of the rich-club connections was significantly correlated with cognition. Furthermore, based on the network-based statistic analysis, we also identified distinct network component disruption pattern between the PCI group and the MCI group, validating the results described above. These results suggest a disruption pattern from peripheral to central connections with the change of cognitive status, shedding light on the early identification and the underlying disruption of CSVD.