Cortical atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: a combined analysis of cortical thickness and functional connectivity

We aimed to perform a combined analysis of cortical thickness and functional connectivity to explore their association with cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). A total of 53 PD and 15 healthy control subjects were enrolled. PD patients were divided into PD with normal cognition (PD-NC, n = 25), PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI, n = 11), and PD with dementia (PDD, n = 17). In some analyses, the PD-MCI and PDD groups were aggregated to represent PD patients with cognitive impairment. Cognitive status was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Anatomical magnetic resonance imaging and resting-state functional connectivity analysis were performed in all subjects. First, surface-based morphometry measurements of cortical thickness and voxels with cortical thickness reduction were detected. Then, regions showing reduced thickness were analyzed for changes in resting-state functional connectivity in PD involving cognitive impairment. Our results showed that, compared with PD-NC, patients with cognitive impairment showed decreased cortical thickness in the left superior temporal, left lingual, right insula, and right fusiform regions. PD-MCI patients showed these alterations in the right lingual region. Widespread cortical thinning was detected in PDD subjects, including the left superior temporal, left fusiform, right insula, and right fusiform areas. We found that cortical thinning in the left superior temporal, left fusiform, and right temporal pole regions positively correlated with MMSE score. In the resting-state functional connectivity analysis, we found a decrease in functional connectivity between the cortical atrophic brain areas mentioned above and cognition-related brain networks, as well as an increase in functional connectivity between those region and the cerebellum. Alterations in cortical thickness may result in a dysfunction of resting-state functional connectivity, contributing to cognitive decline in patients with PD. However, it is more probable that the relation between structure and FC would be bidirectional,and needs more research to explore in PD cognitve decline.

Automated summary

In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between cortical thickness, functional connectivity, and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). Our findings suggest that PD patients with cognitive impairment showed decreased cortical thickness in specific brain regions and alterations in resting-state functional connectivity. The cortical thinning may contribute to the dysfunction of functional connectivity and lead to cognitive decline in PD patients.