Ding Hongyuan, Wang Zhihao, Tang Yin, Wang Tong, Qi Ming, Dou Weiqiang, Qian Long, Gao Yaxin, Zhong Qian, Yang Xi, Tian Huifang, Zhang Ling, Zhu Yi
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
School of Biological Science & Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2023 Aug 1;13(8):5258-5270. doi: 10.21037/qims-22-1373. Epub 2023 Jul 10.
Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Individual biomarkers are essential for evaluating altered neurological outcomes at both SCD and MCI stages for early diagnosis and intervention of AD. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationships between topological properties of the individual brain morphological network and clinical cognitive performances among healthy controls (HCs) and patients with SCD or MCI.
The topological measurements of individual morphological networks were analyzed using graph theory, and inter-group differences of standard graph topology were correlated and regressed to scores of clinical cognitive functions.
Compared with HCs, the topology of the individual morphological networks in SCD and MCI patients was significantly altered. At the global level, altered topology was characterized by lower global efficiency, shorter characteristics path length, and normalized characteristics path length [all P<0.05, false discovery rate (FDR) corrected]. In addition, at the regional level, SCD and MCI patients exhibited abnormal degree centrality in the caudate nucleus and nodal efficiency in the caudate nucleus, right insula, lenticular nucleus, and putamen (all P<0.05, FDR corrected).
The topological features of individual gray matter morphological networks may serve as biomarkers to improve disease prognosis and intervention in the early stages of AD, namely SCD and MCI. Moreover, these findings may further elucidate the relationships between brain morphological alterations and cognitive dysfunctions in SCD and MCI.
主观认知下降（SCD）和轻度认知障碍（MCI）是阿尔茨海默病（AD）的临床前阶段。个体生物标志物对于评估SCD和MCI阶段神经学结果的改变以实现AD的早期诊断和干预至关重要。在本研究中，我们旨在探讨健康对照（HC）、SCD患者或MCI患者个体脑形态网络的拓扑特性与临床认知表现之间的关系。
使用图论分析个体形态网络的拓扑测量，并将标准图拓扑的组间差异与临床认知功能评分进行相关性分析和回归分析。
与HC相比，SCD和MCI患者个体形态网络的拓扑结构发生了显著改变。在全局水平上，拓扑结构改变的特征是全局效率降低、特征路径长度缩短和标准化特征路径长度缩短[所有P<0.05，错误发现率（FDR）校正]。此外，在区域水平上，SCD和MCI患者在尾状核表现出异常的度中心性，在尾状核、右侧脑岛、豆状核和壳核表现出节点效率异常（所有P<0.05，FDR校正）。
个体灰质形态网络的拓扑特征可作为生物标志物，以改善AD早期阶段（即SCD和MCI）的疾病预后和干预。此外，这些发现可能进一步阐明SCD和MCI中脑形态改变与认知功能障碍之间的关系。
