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Topological changes in white matter connectivity network in patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression

Brain Imaging and Behavior volume 14, pages 2559–2568 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Depression is the most common non-motor symptom accompanying Parkinson’s disease (PD) with high prevalence but unclear pathophysiological mechanism. Relatively little is known about the topological patterns of white matter structural networks in depressed patients with PD. In this study, we used diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and graph theory approaches to explore the brain structural connectome in non-depressed patients with PD (n = 47), depressed patients with PD (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 46). All three groups exhibited small-world topology. Compared with healthy controls, non-depressed patients with PD and depressed patients with PD showed a significant reduction of network efficiency in the cortico-subcortical circuits. Moreover, depressed patients with PD exhibited higher network efficiency in fronto-limbic system, compared to non-depressed patients with PD. To sum up, our data indicated a disrupted integrity in the large-scale brain systems in depressed patients with PD patients. The structural connectome provided a basis for functional alterations in depressed patients with PD that may advance our current understanding of pathophysiological mechanism underlying Parkinson’s disease.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the participants. In addition, this work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61131003, 81571348, 81701671), the Nanjing Medical University of Science and Technology Development fund projects (2016NJMU075), National key research and development plan (2016YFC1306600,2017YFC1310302), and Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation (BK20151077).

Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China funded this study (no. 61131003, 81,571,348, 81,701,671).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Xiao Hu and Long Qian equally contributed to this work.

Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiao Hu

  2. Functional Brain Imaging Institute of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiao Hu & Xiangrong Zhang

  3. Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Long Qian & Yaoyu Zhang

  4. GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, 100088, China

    Long Qian

  5. Department of Neurology, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Yuanyuan Xu & Weiguo Liu

  6. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Li Zheng & Yijun Liu

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiangrong Zhang

  8. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, Shaanxi, China

    Yi Zhang

Authors
  1. Xiao Hu
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  2. Long Qian
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  3. Yaoyu Zhang
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  4. Yuanyuan Xu
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  5. Li Zheng
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  7. Xiangrong Zhang
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  8. Yi Zhang
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  9. Weiguo Liu
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Correspondence to Yi Zhang or Weiguo Liu.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Hu, X., Qian, L., Zhang, Y. et al. Topological changes in white matter connectivity network in patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression. Brain Imaging and Behavior 14, 2559–2568 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-019-00208-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-019-00208-2

Keywords

  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Depression
  • Diffusion tensor imaging
  • Graph theory