Zhang Juan, Zhang Tao, Chen Yu-Chen, Chen Huiyou, Feng Yuan, Tang Wen-Wei, Zheng Jin-Xia
Department of Neurology, Nanjing Yuhua Hospital, Yuhua Branch of Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing, China.
Department of Radiology, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Jul 22;14:963943. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.963943. eCollection 2022.
Previous research has found that women with second pregnancy may have an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. This study aims to investigate the intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) pattern of the DMN anchored on posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in postpartum women, especially the parous women using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).
Twenty parous women, 26 primiparous women, and 30 nulliparous women were included for rs-fMRI scan. They were age and education well matched. A seed based FC method was conducted to reveal FC patterns with other brain regions using a region of interest in the PCC. The relationships between FC patterns and cognitive performance were further detected.
Relative to primiparous women, parous women had significantly decreased FC primarily between the PCC and the right middle frontal gyrus and right parahippocampal gyrus. The decreased FC to the right parahippocampal gyrus in parous women was positively associated with the reduced DST scores (rho = 0.524, = 0.031). Moreover, parous women compared with nulliparous women showed significantly decreased FC between the PCC and the left superior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus. The reduced FC to the left superior frontal gyrus in parous women was also positively associated with the lower DST scores (rho = 0.550, = 0.022).
Our result highlights that women with second pregnancy revealed decreased FC between the DMN regions with the parahippocampal gyrus and prefrontal cortex, which was correlated with specific impaired cognitive function. This study may provide new insights into the neuropathological mechanisms of postpartum cognitive impairment and enhance our understanding of the neurobiological aspects during postpartum period.
先前的研究发现，经产妇可能有认知功能障碍风险增加的情况。本研究旨在使用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）研究产后女性，尤其是经产妇中，以扣带回后部（PCC）为锚点的默认模式网络（DMN）的内在功能连接（FC）模式。
纳入20名经产妇、26名初产妇和30名未产妇进行rs-fMRI扫描。她们在年龄和教育程度上匹配良好。采用基于种子的FC方法，使用PCC中的感兴趣区域来揭示与其他脑区的FC模式。进一步检测FC模式与认知表现之间的关系。
与初产妇相比，经产妇主要在PCC与右侧额中回和右侧海马旁回之间的FC显著降低。经产妇与右侧海马旁回的FC降低与DST评分降低呈正相关（rho = 0.524，P = 0.031）。此外，经产妇与未产妇相比，在PCC与左侧额上回和左侧额中回之间的FC显著降低。经产妇与左侧额上回的FC降低也与较低的DST评分呈正相关（rho = 0.550，P = 0.022）。
我们的结果突出表明，经产妇在DMN区域与海马旁回和前额叶皮质之间的FC降低，这与特定的认知功能受损相关。本研究可能为产后认知障碍的神经病理机制提供新的见解，并增进我们对产后神经生物学方面的理解。
