Altered static and dynamic indices of intrinsic brain activity in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the static and dynamic characteristics of intrinsic brain activity (IBA) in subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) patients with or without cognitive impairment.

Methods: In total, 90 participants were recruited, including 32 SIVD patients with cognitive impairment (SIVD-CI, N = 32), 26 SIVD patients with no cognitive impairment (SIVD-NCI, N = 26), and 32 healthy controls (HC, N = 32) matched for age, gender, and education. All subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning and neuropsychological tests. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was calculated to reflect static alterations of regional IBA. Sliding window analysis was conducted in order to explore the dynamic characteristics.

Results: Both SIVD-CI and SIVD-NCI group showed significantly decreased ALFF in left angular gyrus (ANG), whereas SIVD-CI group showed increased ALFF in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), compared with HCs. Furthermore, SIVD-CI group showed significantly decreased ALFF dynamics (dALFF) in right precuneus (PreCu) and left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), compared with HC and SIVD-NCI groups (Gaussian random field-corrected, voxel-level P < 0.001, cluster-level P < 0.05). No dynamic changes were detected between SIVD-NCI group and HC group. The mean ALFF value in left ANG of SIVD-CI group was correlated with the score of delayed memory scale.

Conclusion: ANG may be a vulnerable brain region in SIVD patients. Temporal dynamic analysis could serve as a sensitive and promising method to investigate IBA alterations in SIVD patients.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Intrinsic brain activity; Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging; Subcortical ischemic vascular disease; Temporal dynamics analysis.