Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Eur J Neurosci. 2024 Mar;59(6):1213-1226. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16145. Epub 2023 Sep 6.
In Parkinson's disease (PD), impairment of Theory of Mind (ToM) has recently attracted an increasing number of neuroscientific investigations. If and how functional connectivity of the ToM network is altered in PD is still an open question. First, we explored whether ToM network connectivity shows potential PD-specific functional alterations when compared to healthy controls (HC). Second, we tested the role of the duration of PD in the evolution of functional alterations in the ToM network. Between-group connectivity alterations were computed adopting resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of four groups: PD patients with short disease duration (PD-1, n = 72); PD patients with long disease duration (PD-2, n = 22); healthy controls for PD-1 (HC-1, n = 69); healthy controls for PD-2 (HC-2, n = 22). We explored connectivity differences in the ToM network within and between its three subnetworks: Affective, Cognitive and Core. PD-1 presented a global pattern of decreased functional connectivity within the ToM network, compared to HC-1. The alterations mainly involved the Cognitive and Affective ToM subnetworks and their reciprocal connections. PD-2-those with longer disease duration-showed an increased connectivity spanning the entire ToM network, albeit less consistently in the Core ToM network, compared to both the PD-1 and the HC-2 groups. Functional connectivity within the ToM network is altered in PD. The alterations follow a graded pattern, with decreased connectivity at short disease duration, which broadens to a generalized increase with longer disease duration. The alterations involve both the Cognitive and Affective subnetworks of ToM.
在帕金森病（PD）中，心理理论（ToM）的损伤最近引起了越来越多的神经科学研究。PD 患者的 ToM 网络功能连接是否以及如何发生改变仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。首先，我们探索了与健康对照组（HC）相比，ToM 网络连接是否存在潜在的 PD 特异性功能改变。其次，我们测试了 PD 病程持续时间在 ToM 网络功能改变中的作用。通过对四组的静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）数据进行计算，得出了组间连接的改变：病程较短的 PD 患者（PD-1，n=72）；病程较长的 PD 患者（PD-2，n=22）；PD-1 的健康对照组（HC-1，n=69）；PD-2 的健康对照组（HC-2，n=22）。我们在 ToM 网络的三个子网内和子网间探索了连接差异：情感、认知和核心。与 HC-1 相比，PD-1 表现出 ToM 网络内的整体功能连接减少。这些改变主要涉及认知和情感 ToM 子网及其相互连接。病程较长的 PD-2 与 PD-1 和 HC-2 相比，整个 ToM 网络的连接性增加，尽管在核心 ToM 网络中不太一致。PD 患者的 ToM 网络内功能连接发生改变。这些改变呈分级模式，病程较短时连接减少，随着病程延长，连接广泛增加。改变涉及到 ToM 的认知和情感子网。
