Abstract
Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are a common occurrence with aging and are associated with cognitive impairment. However, the neurobiological mechanisms of WMHs remain poorly understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a prominent tool that helps in non-invasive examinations and is increasingly used to diagnose neuropsychiatric diseases. Degree centrality (DC) is a common and reliable index in fMRI, which counts the number of direct connections for a given voxel in a network and reflects the functional connectivity within brain networks. We explored the underlying mechanism of cognitive impairment in WMHs from the perspective of DC.Methods: A total of 104 patients with WMHs and 37 matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in the current study. All participants underwent individual and overall cognitive function tests and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI). WMHs were divided into three groups (39 mild WMHs, 37 moderate WMHs, and 28 severe WMHs) according to their Fazekas scores, and the abnormal DC values in the WMHs and HCs groups were analyzed.Results: There was a significant difference in the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus and left superior parietal gyrus between the WMHs and HCs groups. The functional connectivity between the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus, left superior parietal gyrus, and left parietal inferior gyrus was also different in the WMHs group.Conclusion: The change in DC value may be one of the underlying mechanisms of cognitive impairment in individuals with WMHs, which provides us with a new approach to delaying cognitive impairment in WMHs.
Highlights
Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a common cerebrovascular disease that refers to a syndrome of clinical and imaging findings [1]
We do further FC analysis, the further results indicated that the functional connectivity between the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus, left superior parietal gyrus, and left parietal inferior gyrus differed in patients with white matter hyperintensities (WMHs)
Our results suggested that the Degree centrality (DC) value of the left superior parietal gyrus in WMHs groups were significantly changed, their cognitive function was significantly different from that in HCs group, the correlation between DC value of left superior parietal gyrus and cognitive function in HCs group was not found in WMHs groups, which is consistent with our hypothesis that the white matter connectivity of patients with WMHs is changed, leading to changes in their related functional connectivity, leading to changes in cognitive function
Summary
Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a common cerebrovascular disease that refers to a syndrome of clinical and imaging findings [1]. WMHs have been detected in 77.8% of healthy elderly individuals between 60 and 82 years of age [5] These WMHs are among the most important vascular contributors to cognitive decline, dementia, and parkinsonism [6]. A longitudinal study involved 818 individuals from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)-2 dataset from August 2010 to May 2017 suggested that WMHs had a significant impact on cognitive impairment and elevate the risk of conversion to dementia. They even pointed that WMHs volume can be regarded as a non-invasive marker of cognitive degeneration [7]. We explored the underlying mechanism of cognitive impairment in WMHs from the perspective of DC
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