Department of Social Psychology and Quantitative Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
UB Institute of Complex Systems, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2022 Sep 14;12(1):15410. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-19627-1.
Although Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of neurodevelopmental delay, few neuroimaging studies have explored this population. This investigation aimed to study whole-brain resting-state spontaneous brain activity using fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) strategies to find differences in spontaneous brain activity among young people with DS and controls and to correlate these results with cognitive outcomes. The sample comprised 18 persons with DS (age mean = 28.67, standard deviation = 4.18) and 18 controls (age mean = 28.56, standard deviation = 4.26). fALFF and ReHo analyses were performed, and the results were correlated with other cognitive variables also collected (KBIT-2 and verbal fluency test). Increased activity was found in DS using fALFF in areas involving the frontal and temporal lobes and left cerebellum anterior lobe. Decreased activity in DS was found in the left parietal and occipital lobe, the left limbic lobe and the left cerebellum posterior lobe. ReHo analysis showed increased activity in certain DS areas of the left frontal lobe and left rectus, as well as the inferior temporal lobe. The areas with decreased activity in the DS participants were regions of the frontal lobe and the right limbic lobe. Altered fALFF and ReHo were found in the DS population, and this alteration could predict the cognitive abilities of the participants. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore regional spontaneous brain activity in a population with DS. Moreover, this study suggests the possibility of using fALFF and ReHo as biomarkers of cognitive function, which is highly important given the difficulties in cognitively evaluating this population to assess dementia. More research is needed, however, to demonstrate its utility.
尽管唐氏综合征（Down syndrome，DS）是最常见的神经发育迟缓的遗传原因，但很少有神经影像学研究探索过这一人群。本研究旨在使用分数低频振幅（fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation，fALFF）和局部一致性（regional homogeneity，ReHo）策略研究全脑静息状态下的自发性脑活动，以发现 DS 患者和对照组之间自发性脑活动的差异，并将这些结果与认知结果相关联。该样本包括 18 名 DS 患者（年龄均值=28.67，标准差=4.18）和 18 名对照者（年龄均值=28.56，标准差=4.26）。进行了 fALFF 和 ReHo 分析，并将结果与其他认知变量（KBIT-2 和语言流畅性测试）相关联。使用 fALFF 发现 DS 患者的额颞叶和左小脑前叶的活动增加。DS 患者的左顶叶和枕叶、左边缘叶和左小脑后叶的活动减少。ReHo 分析显示，DS 患者的左侧额叶和左侧直回以及颞下回的某些区域的活动增加。DS 患者的活动减少区域为额叶和右侧边缘叶。在 DS 人群中发现了 fALFF 和 ReHo 的改变，这种改变可以预测参与者的认知能力。据我们所知，这是第一项探索 DS 人群区域自发性脑活动的研究。此外，本研究表明，fALFF 和 ReHo 可能作为认知功能的生物标志物，鉴于对这一人群进行认知评估以评估痴呆症存在困难，这一点非常重要。然而，需要进一步的研究来证明其效用。
