Qiu Mingjuan, Zhou Di, Zhu Haiyan, Shao Yongjia, Li Yan, Wang Yibin, Zong Genlin, Xi Qian
Department of Radiology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200120, China.
Department of Radiology, Shanghai Songjiang District Central Hospital, Shanghai, 201600, China.
Curr Alzheimer Res. 2023;20(8):567-576. doi: 10.2174/0115672050241163231017073139.
Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is an important index for measuring brain function. Studies have shown that regional CBF changes inconsistently in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is widely used in the study of CBF in patients with MCI. However, alterations in CBF connectivity in these patients remain poorly understood.
In this study, 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D-pCASL) technology was used to investigate the changes in regional CBF and CBF connectivity between 32 MCI patients and 32 healthy controls. The normalized CBF was used to reduce inter-subject variations. Both group comparisons in the CBF and correlations between CBF alterations and cognitive scores were assessed. CBF connectivity of brain regions with regional CBF differences was also compared between groups.
We found that compared with that in controls, the CBF was significantly reduced in the left superior parietal gyrus in MCI patients, whereas it was increased in the left precentral gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, right putamen, and left supplementary motor area. In patients with MCI, significant correlations were identified between CBF and neuropsychological scales. Importantly, MCI patients exhibited CBF disconnections between the left supplementary motor area and the left superior parietal gyrus.
This study found that there are not only changes in regional CBF but also in CBF connectivity patterns in MCI patients compared with controls. These observations may provide a novel explanation for the neural mechanism underlying the pathophysiology in patients with Alzheimer's disease and MCI.
脑血流量（CBF）是衡量脑功能的重要指标。研究表明，轻度认知障碍（MCI）患者局部脑血流量变化不一致。动脉自旋标记（ASL）广泛应用于MCI患者脑血流量的研究。然而，这些患者脑血流量连接性的改变仍知之甚少。
本研究采用三维伪连续动脉自旋标记（3D-pCASL）技术，研究32例MCI患者和32例健康对照者局部脑血流量及脑血流量连接性的变化。采用标准化脑血流量来减少个体间差异。评估了两组在脑血流量方面的比较以及脑血流量改变与认知评分之间的相关性。还比较了两组间局部脑血流量存在差异的脑区的脑血流量连接性。
我们发现，与对照组相比，MCI患者左侧顶上小叶的脑血流量显著降低，而左侧中央前回、右侧颞上回、右侧壳核和左侧辅助运动区的脑血流量增加。在MCI患者中，脑血流量与神经心理量表之间存在显著相关性。重要的是，MCI患者左侧辅助运动区与左侧顶上小叶之间存在脑血流量断开连接。
本研究发现，与对照组相比，MCI患者不仅局部脑血流量发生变化，而且脑血流量连接模式也发生变化。这些观察结果可能为阿尔茨海默病和MCI患者病理生理学的神经机制提供新的解释。
