Correlation between brain networks functional connectivity in resting state and executive function in patients with different degrees of cognitive impairment associated with white matter lesions / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the cognitive-related networks of patients with different cognitive impairment related to white matter lesions (WMLs), and explore the correlation between the altered functional connectivity and the executive function.Methods:Patients with white matter lesions in Beijing Tiantan Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were selected , who were divided into WML-non-dementia vascular cognitive impairment (WML-VCIND) group( n=19)and WML-vascular dementia (VaD) group( n=19). At the same time, 24 normal control group (NC) with no cognitive impairment with age, gender and education level matched were enrolled. The Stroop B, Stroop C, trail making test(TMT-B) and verbal fluency test (VFT) were used to evaluate the executive function of all subjects. The ICA method was used to identity four cognitive-related RSNs frontoparietal network (FPN), salience network (SN), default network (DMN), and dorsal attention network (DAN). Using SPSS 20.0 software, the functional connectivity (FC) of the regions of interest of the selected RSNs among the three groups were compared by analysis of covariance, and correlation between the altered FCs and executive function scores were explored by Spearman correlation analysis. Results:(1) The FC of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)-left inferior parietal lobe (IPL.L) in the VaD group(0.267±0.320) was significantly lower than that in the NC group (0.520±0.253)( P=0.005). The FC of MPFC-posterior cingulate (PCC) was significantly lower in the VaD group(0.655±0.284) than that in the VCIND group(0.810±0.232) ( P=0.017). The FC of MPFC-left insula and MPFC-left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC.L)was significantly higher in the VaD group(0.411±0.277, 0.545±0.311)than that in the VCIND group(0.239±0.308, 0.353±0.270)( P=0.044, 0.028). The FC of the left superior parietal lobe (SPL.L)-right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC.R) in the VCIND group(0.488±0.157) was significantly higher than that in the NC group(0.301±0.257) ( P=0.010). The FC of MPFC-left insula and MPFC-DLPFC.L was higher in NC group than that in VaD group ( P=0.020, 0.037). (2) The FC of MPFC-PCC was negatively correlated with Stroop C score ( r=-0.279, P=0.036), and TMT-B score ( r=-0.313, P=0.018). The FC of MPFC-IPL.L was negatively correlated with Stroop B score ( r=-0.311, P=0.018), Stroop C score( r=-0.308, P=0.020) and TMT-B score ( r=-0.367, P=0.005), while positively correlated with VFT score ( r=0.357, P=0.006). The FC of SPL.L-DLPFC.R was positively correlated with the Stroop B score ( r=0.305, P=0.021). Conclusion:There are certain differences in the functional connectivity between brain areas within the cognitive related brain networks, and the differences in FC between different brain areas are correlated with executive function scores. The changes of the FC may indicate possibly decline in executive function, which can explain the mechanism of cognitive declines.