Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103610
Brooke E. Yeager , Hunter P. Twedt , Joel Bruss , Jordan Schultz , Nandakumar S. Narayanan
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with cognitive as well as motor impairments. While much is known about the brain networks leading to motor impairments in PD, less is known about the brain networks contributing to cognitive impairments. Here, we leveraged resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) to examine network dysfunction in PD patients with cognitive impairment. We focus on canonical cortical networks linked to cognition, including the salience network (SAL), frontoparietal network (FPN), and default mode network (DMN), as well as a subcortical basal ganglia network (BGN). We used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a continuous index of coarse cognitive function in PD. In 82 PD patients, we found that lower MoCA scores were linked with lower intra-network connectivity of the FPN. We also found that lower MoCA scores were linked with lower inter-network connectivity between the SAL and the BGN, the SAL and the DMN, as well as the FPN and the DMN. These data elucidate the relationship of cortical and subcortical functional connectivity with cognitive impairments in PD.
{"title":"Cortical and subcortical functional connectivity and cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease","authors":"Brooke E. Yeager , Hunter P. Twedt , Joel Bruss , Jordan Schultz , Nandakumar S. Narayanan","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103610","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103610","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with cognitive as well as motor impairments. While much is known about the brain networks leading to motor impairments in PD, less is known about the brain networks contributing to cognitive impairments. Here, we leveraged resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) to examine network dysfunction in PD patients with cognitive impairment. We focus on canonical cortical networks linked to cognition, including the salience network (SAL), frontoparietal network (FPN), and default mode network (DMN), as well as a subcortical basal ganglia network (BGN). We used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a continuous index of coarse cognitive function in PD. In 82 PD patients, we found that lower MoCA scores were linked with lower intra-network connectivity of the FPN. We also found that lower MoCA scores were linked with lower inter-network connectivity between the SAL and the BGN, the SAL and the DMN, as well as the FPN and the DMN. These data elucidate the relationship of cortical and subcortical functional connectivity with cognitive impairments in PD.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000494/pdfft?md5=2aa7eaf6d99324339de9b1b7ddf72594&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000494-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140650038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103629
Nikolaos Mouchtouris , Isaiah Ailes , Ki Chang , Adam Flanders , Feroze Mohamed , Stavropoula Tjoumakaris , Reid Gooch , Pascal Jabbour , Robert Rosenwasser , Mahdi Alizadeh
Background and purpose
While mechanical thrombectomy (MT) achieves restoration of cerebral blood flow to the area at risk in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), the influx of blood flow may exacerbate the blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption and extravasation across the BBB, and it therefore remains unclear how reperfusion impacts the blood–brain barrier integrity. In this study, we use diffusion-prepared pseudocontinuous ASL (DP-pCASL) and Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI) sequence to measure the water exchange rate (kw) in patients who underwent either MT or medical management and determine its impact on the brain tissue microstructure in order to elucidate the impact of MT on BBB complex integrity.
Materials and methods
We prospectively enrolled 21 patients with AIS treated at our institution from 10/2021 to 6/2023 who underwent MR imaging at a 3.0-Tesla scanner. Patients underwent DP-pCASl and NODDI imaging in addition to the standard stroke protocol which generated cerebral blood flow (CBF), arterial transit time (ATT), water exchange rate (kw), orientation dispersion index (ODI), intracellular volume fraction (ICVF), and free water fraction (FWF) parametric maps.
Results
Of the 21 patients, 11 underwent MT and 10 were treated non-operatively. The average age and NIHSS for the MT cohort and non-MT cohorts were 69.3 ± 16.6 years old and 15.0 (12.0–20.0), and 70.2 ± 10.7 (p = 0.882) and 6.0 (3.8–9.0, p = 0.003) respectively. The average CBF, ATT, and kw in the infarcted territory of the MT cohort were 38.2 (18.4–59.6), 1347.6 (1182.5–1842.3), and 107.8 (79.2–140.1) respectively. The average CBF, ATT, and kw in the stroke ROI were 16.0 (8.8–36.6, p = 0.036), 1090.8 (937.1–1258.9, p = 0.013), 89.7 (68.0–122.7, p = 0.314) respectively. Linear regression analysis showed increasing CBF (p = 0.008) and undergoing mechanical thrombectomy (p = 0.048) were significant predictors of increased kw.
Conclusion
Using our multimodal non-contrast MRI protocol, we demonstrate that increased CBF and mechanical thrombectomy increased kw, suggesting a better functioning BBB complex. Higher kw suggests less disruption of the BBB complex in the MT cohort.
{"title":"The impact of mechanical thrombectomy on the blood–brain barrier in patients with acute ischemic stroke: A non-contrast MR imaging study using DP-pCASL and NODDI","authors":"Nikolaos Mouchtouris , Isaiah Ailes , Ki Chang , Adam Flanders , Feroze Mohamed , Stavropoula Tjoumakaris , Reid Gooch , Pascal Jabbour , Robert Rosenwasser , Mahdi Alizadeh","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103629","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103629","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and purpose</h3><p>While mechanical thrombectomy (MT) achieves restoration of cerebral blood flow to the area at risk in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), the influx of blood flow may exacerbate the blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption and extravasation across the BBB, and it therefore remains unclear how reperfusion impacts the blood–brain barrier integrity. In this study, we use diffusion-prepared pseudocontinuous ASL (DP-pCASL) and Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI) sequence to measure the water exchange rate (k<sub>w</sub>) in patients who underwent either MT or medical management and determine its impact on the brain tissue microstructure in order to elucidate the impact of MT on BBB complex integrity.</p></div><div><h3>Materials and methods</h3><p>We prospectively enrolled 21 patients with AIS treated at our institution from 10/2021 to 6/2023 who underwent MR imaging at a 3.0-Tesla scanner. Patients underwent DP-pCASl and NODDI imaging in addition to the standard stroke protocol which generated cerebral blood flow (CBF), arterial transit time (ATT), water exchange rate (k<sub>w</sub>), orientation dispersion index (ODI), intracellular volume fraction (ICVF), and free water fraction (FWF) parametric maps.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Of the 21 patients, 11 underwent MT and 10 were treated non-operatively. The average age and NIHSS for the MT cohort and non-MT cohorts were 69.3 ± 16.6 years old and 15.0 (12.0–20.0), and 70.2 ± 10.7 (p = 0.882) and 6.0 (3.8–9.0, p = 0.003) respectively. The average CBF, ATT, and k<sub>w</sub> in the infarcted territory of the MT cohort were 38.2 (18.4–59.6), 1347.6 (1182.5–1842.3), and 107.8 (79.2–140.1) respectively. The average CBF, ATT, and k<sub>w</sub> in the stroke ROI were 16.0 (8.8–36.6, p = 0.036), 1090.8 (937.1–1258.9, p = 0.013), 89.7 (68.0–122.7, p = 0.314) respectively. Linear regression analysis showed increasing CBF (p = 0.008) and undergoing mechanical thrombectomy (p = 0.048) were significant predictors of increased k<sub>w</sub>.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Using our multimodal non-contrast MRI protocol, we demonstrate that increased CBF and mechanical thrombectomy increased k<sub>w</sub>, suggesting a better functioning BBB complex. Higher k<sub>w</sub> suggests less disruption of the BBB complex in the MT cohort.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000688/pdfft?md5=0d134a24a27460382f12f191ffa1a580&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000688-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141312321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103607
Marco G. Hermann , Nils Schröter , Alexander Rau , Marco Reisert , Nadja Jarc , Michel Rijntjes , Jonas A. Hosp , Peter C. Reinacher , Wolfgang H. Jost , Horst Urbach , Cornelius Weiller , Volker A. Coenen , Bastian E.A. Sajonz
Background
Nigrostriatal microstructural integrity has been suggested as a biomarker for levodopa response in Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is a strong predictor for motor response to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). This study aimed to explore the impact of microstructural integrity of the substantia nigra (SN), STN, and putamen on motor response to STN-DBS using diffusion microstructure imaging.
Methods
Data was collected from 23 PD patients (mean age 63 ± 7, 6 females) who underwent STN-DBS, had preoperative 3 T diffusion magnetic resonance imaging including multishell diffusion-weighted MRI with b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2 and records of motor improvement available.
Results
The association between a poorer DBS-response and increased free interstitial fluid showed notable effect sizes (rho > |0.4|) in SN and STN, but not in putamen. However, this did not reach significance after Bonferroni correction and controlling for sex and age.
Conclusion
Microstructural integrity of SN and STN are potential biomarkers for the prediction of therapy efficacy following STN-DBS, but further studies are required to confirm these associations.
{"title":"The connection of motor improvement after deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease and microstructural integrity of the substantia nigra and subthalamic nucleus","authors":"Marco G. Hermann , Nils Schröter , Alexander Rau , Marco Reisert , Nadja Jarc , Michel Rijntjes , Jonas A. Hosp , Peter C. Reinacher , Wolfgang H. Jost , Horst Urbach , Cornelius Weiller , Volker A. Coenen , Bastian E.A. Sajonz","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103607","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Nigrostriatal microstructural integrity has been suggested as a biomarker for levodopa response in Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is a strong predictor for motor response to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). This study aimed to explore the impact of microstructural integrity of the substantia nigra (SN), STN, and putamen on motor response to STN-DBS using diffusion microstructure imaging.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Data was collected from 23 PD patients (mean age 63 ± 7, 6 females) who underwent STN-DBS, had preoperative 3 T diffusion magnetic resonance imaging including multishell diffusion-weighted MRI with b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm<sup>2</sup> and records of motor improvement available.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The association between a poorer DBS-response and increased free interstitial fluid showed notable effect sizes (rho > |0.4|) in SN and STN, but not in putamen. However, this did not reach significance after Bonferroni correction and controlling for sex and age.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Microstructural integrity of SN and STN are potential biomarkers for the prediction of therapy efficacy following STN-DBS, but further studies are required to confirm these associations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000469/pdfft?md5=dda85fff005551ad56bc475827a98f7a&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000469-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140622178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579
Antje Opitz , Josua Zimmermann , David M. Cole , Rebecca C. Coray , Anna Zachäi , Markus R. Baumgartner , Andrea E. Steuer , Maximilian Pilhatsch , Boris B. Quednow , Christian Beste , Ann-Kathrin Stock
In stimulant use and addiction, conflict control processes are crucial for regulating substance use and sustaining abstinence, which can be particularly challenging in social-affective situations. Users of methamphetamine (METH, “Ice”) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) both experience impulse control deficits, but display different social-affective and addictive profiles. We thus aimed to compare the effects of chronic use of the substituted amphetamines METH and MDMA on conflict control processes in different social-affective contexts (i.e., anger and happiness) and investigate their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. For this purpose, chronic but recently abstinent users of METH (n = 38) and MDMA (n = 42), as well as amphetamine-naïve healthy controls (n = 83) performed an emotional face-word Stroop paradigm, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Instead of substance-specific differences, both MDMA and METH users showed smaller behavioral effects of cognitive-emotional conflict processing (independently of emotional valence) and selective deficits in emotional processing of anger content. Both effects were underpinned by stronger P3 ERP modulations suggesting that users of substituted amphetamines employ altered stimulus–response mapping and decision-making. Given that these processes are modulated by noradrenaline and that both MDMA and METH use may be associated with noradrenergic dysfunctions, the noradrenaline system may underlie the observed substance-related similarities. Better understanding the functional relevance of this currently still under-researched neurotransmitter and its functional changes in chronic users of substituted amphetamines is thus an important avenue for future research.
{"title":"Conflict monitoring and emotional processing in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine users – A comparative neurophysiological study","authors":"Antje Opitz , Josua Zimmermann , David M. Cole , Rebecca C. Coray , Anna Zachäi , Markus R. Baumgartner , Andrea E. Steuer , Maximilian Pilhatsch , Boris B. Quednow , Christian Beste , Ann-Kathrin Stock","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103579","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In stimulant use and addiction, conflict control processes are crucial for regulating substance use and sustaining abstinence, which can be particularly challenging in social-affective situations. Users of methamphetamine (METH, “Ice”) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) both experience impulse control deficits, but display different social-affective and addictive profiles. We thus aimed to compare the effects of chronic use of the substituted amphetamines METH and MDMA on conflict control processes in different social-affective contexts (i.e., anger and happiness) and investigate their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. For this purpose, chronic but recently abstinent users of METH (n = 38) and MDMA (n = 42), as well as amphetamine-naïve healthy controls (n = 83) performed an emotional face-word Stroop paradigm, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Instead of substance-specific differences, both MDMA and METH users showed smaller behavioral effects of cognitive-emotional conflict processing (independently of emotional valence) and selective deficits in emotional processing of anger content. Both effects were underpinned by stronger P3 ERP modulations suggesting that users of substituted amphetamines employ altered stimulus–response mapping and decision-making. Given that these processes are modulated by noradrenaline and that both MDMA and METH use may be associated with noradrenergic dysfunctions, the noradrenaline system may underlie the observed substance-related similarities. Better understanding the functional relevance of this currently still under-researched neurotransmitter and its functional changes in chronic users of substituted amphetamines is thus an important avenue for future research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000184/pdfft?md5=1919b4c9b7bc733a562985110fbc8a57&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000184-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139814122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103588
Hans-Christoph Aster , Maria Waltmann , Anika Busch , Marcel Romanos , Matthias Gamer , Betteke Maria van Noort , Anne Beck , Viola Kappel , Lorenz Deserno
Reward-based learning and decision-making are prime candidates to understand symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, only limited evidence is available regarding the neurocomputational underpinnings of the alterations seen in ADHD. This concerns flexible behavioral adaption in dynamically changing environments, which is challenging for individuals with ADHD. One previous study points to elevated choice switching in adolescent ADHD, which was accompanied by disrupted learning signals in medial prefrontal cortex.
Here, we investigated young adults with ADHD (n = 17) as compared to age- and sex-matched controls (n = 17) using a probabilistic reversal learning experiment during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task requires continuous learning to guide flexible behavioral adaptation to changing reward contingencies. To disentangle the neurocomputational underpinnings of the behavioral data, we used reinforcement learning (RL) models, which informed the analysis of fMRI data.
ADHD patients performed worse than controls particularly in trials before reversals, i.e., when reward contingencies were stable. This pattern resulted from ‘noisy’ choice switching regardless of previous feedback. RL modelling showed decreased reinforcement sensitivity and enhanced learning rates for negative feedback in ADHD patients. At the neural level, this was reflected in a diminished representation of choice probability in the left posterior parietal cortex in ADHD. Moreover, modelling showed a marginal reduction of learning about the unchosen option, which was paralleled by a marginal reduction in learning signals incorporating the unchosen option in the left ventral striatum.
Taken together, we show that impaired flexible behavior in ADHD is due to excessive choice switching (‘hyper-flexibility’), which can be detrimental or beneficial depending on the learning environment. Computationally, this resulted from blunted sensitivity to reinforcement of which we detected neural correlates in the attention-control network, specifically in the parietal cortex. These neurocomputational findings remain preliminary due to the relatively small sample size.
{"title":"Impaired flexible reward learning in ADHD patients is associated with blunted reinforcement sensitivity and neural signals in ventral striatum and parietal cortex","authors":"Hans-Christoph Aster , Maria Waltmann , Anika Busch , Marcel Romanos , Matthias Gamer , Betteke Maria van Noort , Anne Beck , Viola Kappel , Lorenz Deserno","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103588","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103588","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Reward-based learning and decision-making are prime candidates to understand symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, only limited evidence is available regarding the neurocomputational underpinnings of the alterations seen in ADHD. This concerns flexible behavioral adaption in dynamically changing environments, which is challenging for individuals with ADHD. One previous study points to elevated choice switching in adolescent ADHD, which was accompanied by disrupted learning signals in medial prefrontal cortex.</p><p>Here, we investigated young adults with ADHD (n = 17) as compared to age- and sex-matched controls (n = 17) using a probabilistic reversal learning experiment during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task requires continuous learning to guide flexible behavioral adaptation to changing reward contingencies. To disentangle the neurocomputational underpinnings of the behavioral data, we used reinforcement learning (RL) models, which informed the analysis of fMRI data.</p><p>ADHD patients performed worse than controls particularly in trials before reversals, i.e., when reward contingencies were stable. This pattern resulted from ‘noisy’ choice switching regardless of previous feedback. RL modelling showed decreased reinforcement sensitivity and enhanced learning rates for negative feedback in ADHD patients. At the neural level, this was reflected in a diminished representation of choice probability in the left posterior parietal cortex in ADHD. Moreover, modelling showed a marginal reduction of learning about the unchosen option, which was paralleled by a marginal reduction in learning signals incorporating the unchosen option in the left ventral striatum.</p><p>Taken together, we show that impaired flexible behavior in ADHD is due to excessive choice switching (‘hyper-flexibility’), which can be detrimental or beneficial depending on the learning environment. Computationally, this resulted from blunted sensitivity to reinforcement of which we detected neural correlates in the attention-control network, specifically in the parietal cortex. These neurocomputational findings remain preliminary due to the relatively small sample size.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000275/pdfft?md5=921d96ab3b87815f1b18dad3bac41f97&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000275-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103612
Jingchun Liu , Caihong Wang , Yujie Zhang , Jun Guo , Peifang Miao , Ying Wei
Background
Subcortical stroke may significantly alter the cerebral cortical structure and affect attention function, but the details of this process remain unclear. The study aimed to investigate the neural substrates underlying attention impairment in patients with subcortical stroke.
Materials and Methods
In this prospective observational study, two distinct datasets were acquired to identify imaging biomarkers underlying attention deficit. The first dataset consisted of 86 patients with subcortical stroke, providing a cross-sectional perspective, whereas the second comprised 108 patients with stroke, offering longitudinal insights. All statistical analyses were subjected to false discovery rate correction upon P < 0.05.
Results
In the chronic-stage data, the stroke group exhibited significantly poorer attention function compared with that of the control group. The cortical structure analysis showed that patients with stroke exhibited decreased cortical thickness of the precentral gyrus and surface area of the cuneus, along with an increase in various frontal, occipital, and parietal cortices regions. The declined attention function positively correlated with the superior frontal gyrus cortical thickness and supramarginal gyrus surface area. In the longitudinal dataset, patients with stroke showed gradually increasing cortical thickness and surface area within regions of obvious structural reorganization. Furthermore, deficient attention positively correlated with supramarginal gyrus surface area both at the subacute and chronic stages post-stroke.
Conclusions
Subcortical stroke can elicit dynamic reorganization of cortical areas associated with attention impairment. Moreover, the altered surface area of the supramarginal gyrus is a potential neuroimaging biomarker for attention deficits.
{"title":"Cortical structure reorganization and correlation with attention deficit in subcortical stroke: An underlying pattern analysis","authors":"Jingchun Liu , Caihong Wang , Yujie Zhang , Jun Guo , Peifang Miao , Ying Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103612","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Subcortical stroke may significantly alter the cerebral cortical structure and affect attention function, but the details of this process remain unclear. The study aimed to investigate the neural substrates underlying attention impairment in patients with subcortical stroke.</p></div><div><h3>Materials and Methods</h3><p>In this prospective observational study, two distinct datasets were acquired to identify imaging biomarkers underlying attention deficit. The first dataset consisted of 86 patients with subcortical stroke, providing a cross-sectional perspective, whereas the second comprised 108 patients with stroke, offering longitudinal insights. All statistical analyses were subjected to false discovery rate correction upon <em>P</em> < 0.05.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>In the chronic-stage data, the stroke group exhibited significantly poorer attention function compared with that of the control group. The cortical structure analysis showed that patients with stroke exhibited decreased cortical thickness of the precentral gyrus and surface area of the cuneus, along with an increase in various frontal, occipital, and parietal cortices regions. The declined attention function positively correlated with the superior frontal gyrus cortical thickness and supramarginal gyrus surface area. In the longitudinal dataset, patients with stroke showed gradually increasing cortical thickness and surface area within regions of obvious structural reorganization. Furthermore, deficient attention positively correlated with supramarginal gyrus surface area both at the subacute and chronic stages post-stroke.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Subcortical stroke can elicit dynamic reorganization of cortical areas associated with attention impairment. Moreover, the altered surface area of the supramarginal gyrus is a potential neuroimaging biomarker for attention deficits.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000512/pdfft?md5=a15b884b2ee047574a5b96b635220689&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000512-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140815799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103597
Matin Mortazavi , Lisa Ann Gerdes , Öznur Hizarci , Tania Kümpfel , Katja Anslinger , Frank Padberg , Sophia Stöcklein , Daniel Keeser , Birgit Ertl-Wagner
Objective
Intracranial volume (ICV) represents the maximal brain volume for an individual, attained prior to late adolescence and remaining constant throughout life after. Thus, ICV serves as a surrogate marker for brain growth integrity. To assess the potential impact of adult-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) and its preceding prodromal subclinical changes on ICV in a large cohort of monozygotic twins clinically discordant for MS.
Methods
FSL software was used to derive ICV estimates from 3D-T1-weighted-3 T-MRI images by using an atlas scaling factor method. ICV were compared between clinically affected and healthy co-twins. All twins were compared to a large healthy reference cohort using standardized ICV z-scores. Mixed models assessed the impact of age at MS diagnosis on ICV.
Results
54 twin-pairs (108 individuals/80female/42.45 ± 11.98 years), 731 individuals (375 non-twins, 109/69 monozygotic/dizygotic twin-pairs; 398female/29.18 ± 0.13 years) and 35 healthy local individuals (20male/31.34 ± 1.53 years). In 45/54 (83 %) twin-pairs, both clinically affected and healthy co-twins showed negative ICV z-scores, i.e., ICVs lower than the average of the healthy reference cohort (M = -1.53 ± 0.11, P<10−5). Younger age at MS diagnosis was strongly associated with lower ICVs (t = 3.76, P = 0.0003). Stratification of twin-pairs by age at MS diagnosis of the affected co-twin (≤30 versus > 30 years) yielded lower ICVs in those twin pairs with younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.01). Comparison within individual twin-pairs identified lower ICVs in the MS-affected co-twins with younger age at diagnosis compared to their corresponding healthy co-twins (P = 0.003).
Conclusion
We offer for the first-time evidence for strong associations between adult-onset MS and lower ICV, which is more pronounced with younger age at diagnosis. This suggests pre-clinical alterations in early neurodevelopment associated with susceptibility to MS both in individuals with and without clinical manifestation of the disease.
{"title":"Impact of adult-onset multiple sclerosis on MRI-based intracranial volume: A study in clinically discordant monozygotic twins","authors":"Matin Mortazavi , Lisa Ann Gerdes , Öznur Hizarci , Tania Kümpfel , Katja Anslinger , Frank Padberg , Sophia Stöcklein , Daniel Keeser , Birgit Ertl-Wagner","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103597","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103597","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Intracranial volume (ICV) represents the maximal brain volume for an individual, attained prior to late adolescence and remaining constant throughout life after. Thus, ICV serves as a surrogate marker for brain growth integrity. To assess the potential impact of adult-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) and its preceding prodromal subclinical changes on ICV in a large cohort of monozygotic twins clinically discordant for MS.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>FSL software was used to derive ICV estimates from 3D-T1-weighted-3 T-MRI images by using an atlas scaling factor method. ICV were compared between clinically affected and healthy co-twins. All twins were compared to a large healthy reference cohort using standardized ICV z-scores. Mixed models assessed the impact of age at MS diagnosis on ICV.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>54 twin-pairs (108 individuals/80female/42.45 ± 11.98 years), 731 individuals (375 non-twins, 109/69 monozygotic/dizygotic twin-pairs; 398female/29.18 ± 0.13 years) and 35 healthy local individuals (20male/31.34 ± 1.53 years). In 45/54 (83 %) twin-pairs, both clinically affected and healthy co-twins showed negative ICV z-scores, i.e., ICVs lower than the average of the healthy reference cohort (M = -1.53 ± 0.11, P<10<sup>−5</sup>). Younger age at MS diagnosis was strongly associated with lower ICVs (t = 3.76, P = 0.0003). Stratification of twin-pairs by age at MS diagnosis of the affected co-twin (≤30 versus > 30 years) yielded lower ICVs in those twin pairs with younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.01). Comparison within individual twin-pairs identified lower ICVs in the MS-affected co-twins with younger age at diagnosis compared to their corresponding healthy co-twins (P = 0.003).</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>We offer for the first-time evidence for strong associations between adult-onset MS and lower ICV, which is more pronounced with younger age at diagnosis. This suggests pre-clinical alterations in early neurodevelopment associated with susceptibility to MS both in individuals with and without clinical manifestation of the disease.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000366/pdfft?md5=ef2c72f3140a65690cb972e3cddfdefc&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000366-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140191459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103602
Nicholas Riccardi , Satvik Nelakuditi , Dirk B. den Ouden , Chris Rorden , Julius Fridriksson , Rutvik H. Desai
Discourse is a fundamentally important aspect of communication, and discourse production provides a wealth of information about linguistic ability. Aphasia commonly affects, in multiple ways, the ability to produce discourse. Comprehensive aphasia assessments such as the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) are time- and resource-intensive. We examined whether discourse measures can be used to estimate WAB-R Aphasia Quotient (AQ), and whether this can serve as an ecologically valid, less resource-intensive measure. We used features extracted from discourse tasks using three AphasiaBank prompts involving expositional (picture description), story narrative, and procedural discourse. These features were used to train a machine learning model to predict the WAB-R AQ. We also compared and supplemented the model with lesion location information from structural neuroimaging. We found that discourse-based models could estimate AQ well, and that they outperformed models based on lesion features. Addition of lesion features to the discourse features did not improve the performance of the discourse model substantially. Inspection of the most informative discourse features revealed that different prompt types taxed different aspects of language. These findings suggest that discourse can be used to estimate aphasia severity, and provide insight into the linguistic content elicited by different types of discourse prompts.
{"title":"Discourse- and lesion-based aphasia quotient estimation using machine learning","authors":"Nicholas Riccardi , Satvik Nelakuditi , Dirk B. den Ouden , Chris Rorden , Julius Fridriksson , Rutvik H. Desai","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103602","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103602","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Discourse is a fundamentally important aspect of communication, and discourse production provides a wealth of information about linguistic ability. Aphasia commonly affects, in multiple ways, the ability to produce discourse. Comprehensive aphasia assessments such as the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) are time- and resource-intensive. We examined whether discourse measures can be used to estimate WAB-R Aphasia Quotient (AQ), and whether this can serve as an ecologically valid, less resource-intensive measure. We used features extracted from discourse tasks using three AphasiaBank prompts involving expositional (picture description), story narrative, and procedural discourse. These features were used to train a machine learning model to predict the WAB-R AQ. We also compared and supplemented the model with lesion location information from structural neuroimaging. We found that discourse-based models could estimate AQ well, and that they outperformed models based on lesion features. Addition of lesion features to the discourse features did not improve the performance of the discourse model substantially. Inspection of the most informative discourse features revealed that different prompt types taxed different aspects of language. These findings suggest that discourse can be used to estimate aphasia severity, and provide insight into the linguistic content elicited by different types of discourse prompts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221315822400041X/pdfft?md5=4d507c0a72cd4ec4f7c9d0ab8d1ee5c1&pid=1-s2.0-S221315822400041X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140536250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103603
Yongfeng Yang , Xueyan Jin , Yongjiang Xue , Xue Li , Yi Chen , Ning Kang , Wei Yan , Peng Li , Xiaoge Guo , Binbin Luo , Yan Zhang , Qing Liu , Han Shi , Luwen Zhang , Xi Su , Bing Liu , Lin Lu , Luxian Lv , Wenqiang Li
Antipsychotic drug treatment for schizophrenia (SZ) can alter brain structure and function, but it is unclear if specific regional changes are associated with treatment outcome. Therefore, we examined the effects of antipsychotic drug treatment on regional grey matter (GM) density, white matter (WM) density, and functional connectivity (FC) as well as associations between regional changes and treatment efficacy. SZ patients (n = 163) and health controls (HCs) (n = 131) were examined by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) at baseline, and a subset of SZ patients (n = 77) were re-examined after 8 weeks of second-generation antipsychotic treatment to assess changes in regional GM and WM density. In addition, 88 SZ patients and 81 HCs were examined by resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) at baseline and the patients were re-examined post-treatment to examine FC changes. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) were applied to measure psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairments in SZ. SZ patients were then stratified into response and non-response groups according to PANSS score change (≥50 % decrease or <50 % decrease, respectively). The GM density of the right cingulate gyrus, WM density of the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) plus 5 other WM tracts were reduced in the response group compared to the non-response group. The FC values between the right anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus and left thalamus were reduced in the entire SZ group (n = 88) after treatment, while FC between the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and right medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed) was increased in the response group. There were no significant changes in regional FC among the non-response group after treatment and no correlations with symptom or cognition test scores. These findings suggest that the right SFG is a critical target of antipsychotic drugs and that WM density and FC alterations within this region could be used as potential indicators in predicting the treatment outcome of antipsychotics of SZ.
抗精神病药物治疗精神分裂症(SZ)可改变大脑结构和功能,但具体的区域变化是否与治疗效果相关尚不清楚。因此,我们研究了抗精神病药物治疗对区域灰质(GM)密度、白质(WM)密度和功能连通性(FC)的影响,以及区域变化与治疗效果之间的关联。在基线时,对SZ患者(163人)和健康对照组(131人)进行结构磁共振成像(sMRI)检查,并在第二代抗精神病药物治疗8周后对部分SZ患者(77人)进行复查,以评估区域GM和WM密度的变化。此外,对88名SZ患者和81名HC患者进行了基线静息态功能磁共振成像(rs-fMRI)检查,并在治疗后对患者进行复查,以检查FC的变化。阳性与阴性综合征量表(PANSS)和MATRICS共识认知测验(MCCB)用于测量SZ患者的精神症状和认知障碍。然后根据PANSS评分的变化(分别为下降≥50%或下降<50%)将SZ患者分为有反应组和无反应组。与无反应组相比,反应组患者右侧扣带回的GM密度、右侧额上回(SFG)的WM密度以及其他5条WM束均有所降低。治疗后,整个 SZ 组(n = 88)中右侧扣带回前部和扣带回旁以及左侧丘脑之间的 FC 值降低,而反应组中右侧颞下回(ITG)和右侧内侧额上回(SFGmed)之间的 FC 值升高。治疗后,无反应组的区域FC无明显变化,与症状或认知测试评分也无相关性。这些研究结果表明,右侧SFG是抗精神病药物的一个关键靶点,该区域的WM密度和FC变化可作为预测SZ抗精神病药物治疗效果的潜在指标。
{"title":"Right superior frontal gyrus: A potential neuroimaging biomarker for predicting short-term efficacy in schizophrenia","authors":"Yongfeng Yang , Xueyan Jin , Yongjiang Xue , Xue Li , Yi Chen , Ning Kang , Wei Yan , Peng Li , Xiaoge Guo , Binbin Luo , Yan Zhang , Qing Liu , Han Shi , Luwen Zhang , Xi Su , Bing Liu , Lin Lu , Luxian Lv , Wenqiang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103603","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Antipsychotic drug treatment for schizophrenia (SZ) can alter brain structure and function, but it is unclear if specific regional changes are associated with treatment outcome. Therefore, we examined the effects of antipsychotic drug treatment on regional grey matter (GM) density, white matter (WM) density, and functional connectivity (FC) as well as associations between regional changes and treatment efficacy. SZ patients (n = 163) and health controls (HCs) (n = 131) were examined by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) at baseline, and a subset of SZ patients (n = 77) were re-examined after 8 weeks of second-generation antipsychotic treatment to assess changes in regional GM and WM density. In addition, 88 SZ patients and 81 HCs were examined by resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) at baseline and the patients were re-examined post-treatment to examine FC changes. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) were applied to measure psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairments in SZ. SZ patients were then stratified into response and non-response groups according to PANSS score change (≥50 % decrease or <50 % decrease, respectively). The GM density of the right cingulate gyrus, WM density of the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) plus 5 other WM tracts were reduced in the response group compared to the non-response group. The FC values between the right anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus and left thalamus were reduced in the entire SZ group (n = 88) after treatment, while FC between the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and right medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed) was increased in the response group. There were no significant changes in regional FC among the non-response group after treatment and no correlations with symptom or cognition test scores. These findings suggest that the right SFG is a critical target of antipsychotic drugs and that WM density and FC alterations within this region could be used as potential indicators in predicting the treatment outcome of antipsychotics of SZ.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000421/pdfft?md5=de826b1fa71468ce4db71c398ea9df5e&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000421-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140536251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103656
Understanding why some patients with depression remain resistant to antidepressant medication could be elucidated by investigating their associated neural features. Although research has consistently demonstrated abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) – a region that is part of the default mode network (DMN) − in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a considerable research gap exists in discerning how these neural networks distinguish TRD from treatment-sensitive depression (TSD). We aimed to evaluate the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the ACC with other regions of the DMN to better understand the role of this structure in the pathophysiology of TRD. 35 TRD patients, 35 TSD patients, and 38 healthy controls (HC) underwent a resting-state functional MRI protocol. Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were performed, comparing the three groups for the connectivity between two subregions of the ACC (the subgenual ACC (sgACC) and the rostral ACC (rACC)) and the DMN (p < 0.05 FWE corrected). Furthermore, inter-network connectivity of the DMN with other neural networks was explored by independent component (ICA) analyses (p < 0.01, FDR corrected). The results demonstrated hyperconnectivity between the rACC and the posterior cingulate cortex in TRD relative to TSD and HC (F(2,105) = 5.335, p < 0.05). ICA found DMN connectivity to regions of the visual network (TRD<TSD) and a parietal region of the DMN (TRD>TSD), differentiating the two clinical groups. These results provide confirmatory evidence of DMN hyperconnectivity and preliminary evidence for its interactions with other neural networks as key neural mechanisms underlying treatment non-responsiveness.
{"title":"Intra- and Inter-Network connectivity of the default mode network differentiates Treatment-Resistant depression from Treatment-Sensitive depression","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103656","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103656","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Understanding why some patients with depression remain resistant to antidepressant medication could be elucidated by investigating their associated neural features. Although research has consistently demonstrated abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) – a region that is part of the default mode network (DMN) − in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a considerable research gap exists in discerning how these neural networks distinguish TRD from treatment-sensitive depression (TSD). We aimed to evaluate the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the ACC with other regions of the DMN to better understand the role of this structure in the pathophysiology of TRD. 35 TRD patients, 35 TSD patients, and 38 healthy controls (HC) underwent a resting-state functional MRI protocol. Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were performed, comparing the three groups for the connectivity between two subregions of the ACC (the subgenual ACC (sgACC) and the rostral ACC (rACC)) and the DMN (<em>p</em> < 0.05 FWE corrected). Furthermore, inter-network connectivity of the DMN with other neural networks was explored by independent component (ICA) analyses (<em>p</em> < 0.01, FDR corrected). The results demonstrated hyperconnectivity between the rACC and the posterior cingulate cortex in TRD relative to TSD and HC (F(2,105) = 5.335, <em>p</em> < 0.05). ICA found DMN connectivity to regions of the visual network (TRD<TSD) and a parietal region of the DMN (TRD>TSD), differentiating the two clinical groups. These results provide confirmatory evidence of DMN hyperconnectivity and preliminary evidence for its interactions with other neural networks as key neural mechanisms underlying treatment non-responsiveness.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54359,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimage-Clinical","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224000950/pdfft?md5=5654c168431acc8247d1c17d11992568&pid=1-s2.0-S2213158224000950-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142048974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}