Open AccessRegional and network properties of white matter function in Parkinson's disease
Author(s) -
Ji GongJun,
Ren Cuiping,
Li Ying,
Sun Jinmei,
Liu Tingting,
Gao Yaxiang,
Xue Dongzhang,
Shen Longshan,
Cheng Wen,
Zhu Chunyan,
Tian Yanghua,
Hu Panpan,
Chen Xianwen,
Wang Kai
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.24444
Subject(s) - white matter , neuroscience , psychology , corticospinal tract , parkinson's disease , diffusion mri , functional magnetic resonance imaging , putamen , connectome , functional connectivity , disease , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , radiology
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with dysfunction in cortices as well as white matter (WM) tracts. While the changes to WM structure have been extensively investigated in PD, the nature of the functional changes to WM remains unknown. In this study, the regional activity and functional connectivity of WM were compared between PD patients (n = 57) and matched healthy controls (n = 52), based on multimodel magnetic resonance imaging data sets. By tract‐based spatial statistical analyses of regional activity, patients showed decreased structural‐functional coupling in the left corticospinal tract compared to controls. This tract also displayed abnormally increased functional connectivity within the left post‐central gyrus and left putamen in PD patients. At the network level, the WM functional network showed small‐worldness in both controls and PD patients, yet it was abnormally increased in the latter group. Based on the features of the WM functional connectome, previously un‐evaluated individuals could be classified with fair accuracy (73%) and area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristics (75%). These neuroimaging findings provide direct evidence for WM functional changes in PD, which is crucial to understand the functional role of fiber tracts in the pathology of neural circuits.