Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre, Limburg, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Neurobiol Aging. 2012 Jan;33(1):201.e1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.07.015. Epub 2010 Aug 23.
White matter hyperintensities (WMH) in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) have been associated with impaired executive functioning, although contradictory findings have been reported. The aim of this study was to examine whether WMH location influenced the relation between WMH and executive functioning in MCI participants (55-90 years) in the European multicenter memory-clinic-based DESCRIPA study, who underwent MRI scanning at baseline (N = 337). Linear mixed model analysis was performed to test the association between WMH damage in three networks (frontal-parietal, frontal-subcortical and frontal-parietal-subcortical network) and change in executive functioning over a 3-year period. WMH in the frontal-parietal and in the frontal-parietal-subcortical network were associated with decline in executive functioning. However, the frontal-subcortical network was not associated with change in executive functioning. Our results suggest that parietal WMH are a significant contributor to executive decline in MCI and that investigation of WMH in the cerebral networks supporting cognitive functions provide a new way to differentiate stable from cognitive declining MCI individuals.
脑白质高信号（WMH）与轻度认知障碍（MCI）的执行功能障碍有关，尽管有相互矛盾的发现。本研究的目的是在欧洲多中心基于记忆诊所的 DESCRIPA 研究中，检查 MCI 参与者（55-90 岁）的 WMH 位置是否会影响 WMH 与执行功能之间的关系，这些参与者在基线时接受了 MRI 扫描（N=337）。线性混合模型分析用于测试三个网络（额顶叶网络、额皮质下网络和额顶皮质下网络）中的 WMH 损伤与 3 年内执行功能变化之间的关联。额顶叶和额顶皮质下网络中的 WMH 与执行功能下降有关。然而，额皮质下网络与执行功能变化无关。我们的结果表明，顶叶 WMH 是 MCI 执行功能下降的重要原因，对支持认知功能的脑网络中 WMH 的研究为区分稳定与认知下降的 MCI 个体提供了一种新方法。
