Neural Functional Network Of Early Parkinson’s Disease Based On Independent Component Analysis

Objectives: The question of whether there is heterogeneity in the neuroimage of Parkinson’s disease(PD)at different Hoehn-Yahr(HY)stages remains to be investigated.In this study,we pay attention to brain functional variation of different disease degree of PD and mechanism of PD progression by comparing functional network connectivity of HY stage1.0-1.5,HY stage 2.0-2.5 and healthy controls.Materials and methods: We recruited 95 PD patients,including 50 with early/mild PD(PD-mild,corresponding HY stage1.0-1.5)and 45 with early/moderate PD(PD-moderate,corresponding HY stage 2.0-2.5).We also recruited 37 age-and sex-matched healthy subjects as healthy controls(HC).All subjects underwent neuropsychological assessments and a 3.0Tesla magnetic resonance scanning.In the GIFT software,the independent component analysis(ICA)method is used to extract resting functional networks(RSNs),and then the differences of functional connections within and between the networks are compared between three groups,and correlation analysis is made with the clinical scales.Results:(1)Compared with HC group,the early/mild and early/moderate PD group both showed reduced functional connections in the default mode network(DMN),simultaneously,the early/mild PD group displayed decreased and increased in the right frontoparietal network(RFPN).(2)Compared with HC group,the early/mild and early/moderate PD group showed abnormal functional connections between the executive control network(ECN)and multiple other brain networks.The functional connections of early/mild PD group decreased in pair networks of ECNDMN,ECN-LFPN,while that of early/moderate PD group decreased in pairs networks of ECN-DMN,ECN-R/LFPN,DMN-AUN and increased in LFPN-CBN.(3)When comparing functional connectivity between early/mild and early/moderate PD group,no statistical difference survived after multiple comparison corrections whether within or between networks.Conclusion: The onset of Parkinson’s disease is accompanied by abnormalities in multiple brain networks,patients with different HY stages have different functional network changes,and a wider range of abnormal functional networks may mark the progression of the disease,in which the ECN possibly plays an important role.