Default Mode Network Structural Integrity and Cerebellar Connectivity Predict Information Processing Speed Deficit in Multiple Sclerosis. 2019

Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
Department of Physics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.

Cognitive impairment affects about 50% of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, but the mechanisms underlying this remain unclear. The default mode network (DMN) has been linked with cognition, but in MS its role is still poorly understood. Moreover, within an extended DMN network including the cerebellum (CBL-DMN), the contribution of cortico-cerebellar connectivity to MS cognitive performance remains unexplored. The present study investigated associations of DMN and CBL-DMN structural connectivity with cognitive processing speed in MS, in both cognitively impaired (CIMS) and cognitively preserved (CPMS) MS patients. 68 MS patients and 22 healthy controls (HCs) completed a symbol digit modalities test (SDMT) and had 3T brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that included a diffusion weighted imaging protocol. DMN and CBL-DMN tracts were reconstructed with probabilistic tractography. These networks (DMN and CBL-DMN) and the cortico-cerebellar tracts alone were modeled using a graph theoretical approach with fractional anisotropy (FA) as the weighting factor. Brain parenchymal fraction (BPF) was also calculated. In CIMS SDMT scores strongly correlated with the FA-weighted global efficiency (GE) of the network [GE(CBL-DMN): ρ = 0.87, R 2 = 0.76, p < 0.001; GE(DMN): ρ = 0.82, R 2 = 0.67, p < 0.001; GE(CBL): ρ = 0.80, R 2 = 0.64, p < 0.001]. In CPMS the correlation between these measures was significantly lower [GE(CBL-DMN): ρ = 0.51, R 2 = 0.26, p < 0.001; GE(DMN): ρ = 0.48, R 2 = 0.23, p = 0.001; GE(CBL): ρ = 0.52, R 2 = 0.27, p < 0.001] and SDMT scores correlated most with BPF (ρ = 0.57, R 2 = 0.33, p < 0.001). In a multivariable regression model where SDMT was the independent variable, FA-weighted GE was the only significant explanatory variable in CIMS, while in CPMS BPF and expanded disability status scale were significant. No significant correlation was found in HC between SDMT scores, MRI or network measures. DMN structural GE is related to cognitive performance in MS, and results of CBL-DMN suggest that the cerebellum structural connectivity to the DMN plays an important role in information processing speed decline.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
January 2018, NeuroImage. Clinical,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
July 2020, Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
January 2014, PloS one,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
December 2014, Journal of the neurological sciences,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
September 2023, Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
January 2009, Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991),
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
January 2016, PloS one,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
January 2019, PloS one,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
December 2020, European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience,
Giovanni Savini, and Matteo Pardini, and Gloria Castellazzi, and Alessandro Lascialfari, and Declan Chard, and Egidio D'Angelo, and Claudia A M Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
June 2004, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology,
Copied contents to your clipboard!