Amnestic mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: White matter structural changes and mechanisms

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 12;14(12):e0226175. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226175. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous cognitive disorder that is often comorbid with Parkinson's diseases (PD). The amnestic subtype of PD-MCI (PD-aMCI) has a higher risk to develop dementia. However, there is a lack of studies on the white matter (WM) structural changes of PD-aMCI. We characterized the WM structural changes of PD-aMCI (n = 17) with cognitively normal PD (PD-CN, n = 19) and normal controls (n = 20), using voxel-based and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analyses on fractional anisotropy (FA) axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD). By excluding and then including the motor performance as a covariate in the comparison analysis between PD-aMCI and PD-CN, we attempted to discern the influences of two neuropathological mechanisms on the WM structural changes of PD-aMCI. The correlation analyses between memory and voxel-based WM measures in all PD patients were also performed (n = 36). The results showed that PD-aMCI had smaller FA values than PD-CN in the diffuse WM areas, and PD-CN had higher AD and RD values than normal controls in the right caudate. Most FA difference between PD-aMCI and PD-CN could be weakened by the motor adjustment. The FA differences between PD-aMCI and PD-CN were largely spatially overlapped with the memory-correlated FA values. Our findings demonstrated that the WM structural differences between PD-aMCI and PD-CN were mainly memory-related, and the influence of motor adjustment might indicate a common mechanism underlying both motor and memory impairment in PD-aMCI, possibly reflecting a predominant influence of dopaminergic neuropathology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Case-Control Studies
  • China / epidemiology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / epidemiology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / etiology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / pathology*
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Parkinson Disease / complications*
  • White Matter / pathology*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31700960, 31571129, 31500922), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (No. 2017A030310336), the Discipline Layout of Fundamental Research of Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (No. JCYJ 20160428164548896), the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2016YFC1306503), the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen University General Hospital (No. SUGH2018QD067), and Beijing Municipal Commission of Health (No. PXM2017_026283_000002). These grants provided financial support to the following investigators: Zhang: 31700960, 2017A030310336; Chen: JCYJ 20160428164548896, SUGH2018QD067; Wu: 2016YFC1306503, PXM2017_026283_000002; Guan: 31571129, 31500922. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.