Disruption of locus coeruleus-related functional networks in Parkinson's disease

Junyan Sun; Jinghong Ma; Linlin Gao; Junling Wang; Dongling Zhang; Lili Chen; Jiliang Fang; Tao Feng; Tao Wu

doi:10.1038/s41531-023-00532-x

Disruption of locus coeruleus-related functional networks in Parkinson's disease

NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2023 May 30;9(1):81. doi: 10.1038/s41531-023-00532-x.

Authors

Junyan Sun¹, Jinghong Ma², Linlin Gao³, Junling Wang¹, Dongling Zhang¹, Lili Chen¹, Jiliang Fang⁴, Tao Feng^#⁵, Tao Wu^#⁶

Affiliations

¹ Center for Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of General Medicine, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin, China.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ Center for Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. happyft@sina.com.
⁶ Center for Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. wutao69@163.com.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Locus coeruleus (LC) is severely affected in Parkinson's Disease (PD). However, alterations in LC-related resting-state networks (RSNs) in PD remain unclear. We used resting-state functional MRI to investigate the alterations in functional connectivity (FC) of LC-related RSNs and the associations between RSNs changes and clinical features in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) and PD patients with (PD^RBD+) and without RBD (PD^RBD-). There was a similarly disrupted FC pattern of LC-related RSNs in iRBD and PD^RBD+ patients, whereas LC-related RSNs were less damaged in PD^RBD- patients than that in patients with iRBD and PD^RBD+. The FC of LC-related RSNs correlated with cognition and duration in iRBD, depression in PD^RBD-, and cognition and severity of RBD in patients with PD^RBD+. Our findings demonstrate that LC-related RSNs are significantly disrupted in the prodromal stage of α-synucleinopathies and proposed body-first PD (PD^RBD+), but are less affected in brain-first PD (PD^RBD-).