Topological Disruption of Structural Brain Networks in Patients With Cognitive Impairment Following Cerebellar Infarction

Frontiers in Neurology

Duohao Wang¹  Xingjian Lin¹  Minjie Tian¹  Miao Yu¹  Donglin Zhu¹  Qun Yao¹  Jingping Shi¹  Lin Fan²  Chaoyong Xiao³ 

[1] Department of Neurology, Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China;Department of Neurology, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, China;Department of Radiology, Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China;

关键词: cerebellar infarction;    cognitive impairment;    diffusion MRI;    graph theory;    brain network;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2019.00759

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cerebellar lesions can lead to a series of cognitive and emotional disorders by influencing cerebral activity via cerebro-cerebellar loops. To explore changes in cognitive function and structural brain networks in patients with posterior cerebellar infarction, we conducted the current study using diffusion-weighted MRI (32 cerebellar infarction patients, 29 controls). Moreover, a series of neuropsychological tests were used to assess the subject's cognitive performance. We found cognitive impairment following cerebellar infarction involving multiple cognitive domains, including memory, executive functions, visuospatial abilities, processing speed and language functions, and brain topological abnormalities, including changes in clustering coefficients, shortest path lengths, global efficiency, local efficiencies, betweenness centrality and nodal efficiencies. Our results indicated that measures of local efficiency, mainly in the precuneus, cingulate gyrus and frontal-temporal cortex, were significantly reduced with posterior cerebellar infarction. At the same time, The correlation analysis suggested thatthe abnormal alterations in the right PCG, bilateral DCG, right PCUN may play a core role in the cognitive impairment following cerebellar infarctions. The differences in topological features of the structural brain networks within the cerebro-cerebellar circuits may provide a new approach to explore the pathophysiological mechanisms of cognitive impairment following cerebellar infarction.

【 授权许可】

Unknown