Qiu Tiantian, Zeng Qingze, Luo Xiao, Xu Tongcheng, Shen Zhujing, Xu Xiaopei, Wang Chao, Li Kaicheng, Huang Peiyu, Li Xiaodong, Xie Fei, Dai Shouping, Zhang Minming
Department of Radiology, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, China.
Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Nov 18;13:755630. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.755630. eCollection 2021.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the prodromal phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and has a high risk of progression to AD. Cigarette smoking is one of the important modifiable risk factors in AD progression. Cholinergic dysfunction, especially the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM), is the converging target connecting smoking and AD. However, how cigarette smoking affects NBM connectivity in MCI remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the interaction effects of condition (non-smoking vs. smoking) and diagnosis [cognitively normal (CN) vs. MCI] based on the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the NBM. After propensity score matching, we included 86 non-smoking CN, 44 smoking CN, 62 non-smoking MCI, and 32 smoking MCI. All subjects underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and neuropsychological tests. The seed-based rsFC of the NBM with the whole-brain voxel was calculated. Furthermore, the mixed effect analysis was performed to explore the interaction effects between condition and diagnosis on rsFC of the NBM. The interaction effects of condition × diagnosis on rsFC of the NBM were observed in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), and right precuneus/middle occipital gyrus (MOG). Specifically, the smoking CN showed decreased rsFC between left NBM and PFC and increased rsFC between left NBM and SMA compared with non-smoking CN and smoking MCI. The smoking MCI showed reduced rsFC between right NBM and precuneus/MOG compared with non-smoking MCI. Additionally, rsFC between the NBM and SMA showed a significant negative correlation with Wechsler Memory Scale-Logical Memory (WMS-LM) immediate recall in smoking CN ( = -0.321, = 0.041). Our findings indicate that chronic nicotine exposure through smoking may lead to functional connectivity disruption between the NBM and precuneus in MCI patients. The distinct alteration patterns on NBM connectivity in CN smokers and MCI smokers suggest that cigarette smoking has different influences on normal and impaired cognition.
轻度认知障碍（MCI）是阿尔茨海默病（AD）的前驱阶段，进展为AD的风险很高。吸烟是AD进展中重要的可改变风险因素之一。胆碱能功能障碍，尤其是Meynert基底核（NBM），是连接吸烟与AD的共同靶点。然而，吸烟如何影响MCI患者的NBM连接尚不清楚。本研究旨在基于NBM的静息态功能连接（rsFC）评估状态（非吸烟与吸烟）和诊断[认知正常（CN）与MCI]的交互作用。倾向得分匹配后，我们纳入了86名非吸烟CN患者、44名吸烟CN患者、62名非吸烟MCI患者和32名吸烟MCI患者。所有受试者均接受了结构和功能磁共振成像扫描及神经心理学测试。计算了NBM与全脑体素的基于种子点的rsFC。此外，进行了混合效应分析以探讨状态和诊断对NBM的rsFC的交互作用。在双侧前额叶皮质（PFC）、双侧辅助运动区（SMA）和右侧楔前叶/枕中回（MOG）观察到状态×诊断对NBM的rsFC的交互作用。具体而言，与非吸烟CN患者和吸烟MCI患者相比，吸烟CN患者左侧NBM与PFC之间的rsFC降低，左侧NBM与SMA之间的rsFC增加。与非吸烟MCI患者相比，吸烟MCI患者右侧NBM与楔前叶/MOG之间的rsFC降低。此外，在吸烟CN患者中，NBM与SMA之间的rsFC与韦氏记忆量表-逻辑记忆（WMS-LM）即时回忆呈显著负相关（r = -0.321，P = 0.041）。我们的研究结果表明，通过吸烟长期接触尼古丁可能导致MCI患者NBM与楔前叶之间的功能连接中断。CN吸烟者和MCI吸烟者NBM连接的不同改变模式表明，吸烟对正常认知和受损认知有不同影响。
