Liu Yushuang, Lu Yingqi, Hu Liyu, Xu Jinping, Liu Xingchen, Yang Nan, Chen Shangjie, Zhang Zhongling
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, China; Guangzhou Geriatric Hospital, Guangzhou 510000, China.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The People's Hospital of Baoan Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518101, China; The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518101, China; Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.
Brain Res Bull. 2025 Jan;220:111160. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2024.111160. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
Further studies are necessary to investigate the neural mechanisms elemental of subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI), which is considered as precursor to vascular dementia (VaD). This objective of this research was to investigate the alterations in gray matter volume and brain iron deposition in patients with svMCI.
This study involved 23 patients classified as health controls (HC) and 20 patients diagnosed with svMCI. All participants received cognitive assessments and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This research contains voxel-based morphometry (VBM), voxel-based quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) analysis, ROI-based QSM analysis, and correlation analysis.
svMCI patients showed more seriously cognitive impairment than HC patients. VBM analyses showed gray matter atrophy in the cingulate gyrus in the svMCI. Voxel-based QSM analyses showed increased susceptibilities in the right middle frontal gyrus, left paracentral lobule, as well as decreased susceptibility in the right postcentral gyrus in the svMCI. And ROI-based QSM analyses showed increased susceptibilities in left caudate nucleus and cerebellum in the svMCI. In addition, the susceptibility in left middle cingulate cortex and paracingulate gyrus was positively correlated associated with MoCA scores (r = 0.538 p < 0.001), and the susceptibility in the right middle frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with MoCA scores (r = -0.418 p < 0.007).
The results of our studies suggest that morphological alterations and iron burden in the brain may be related to cognitive dysfunction in svMCI patients, providing a new way to explore underlying neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction.
作为血管性痴呆（VaD）的前驱症状，皮质下血管性轻度认知障碍（svMCI）的神经机制基本要素仍需进一步研究。本研究旨在调查svMCI患者的灰质体积和脑铁沉积变化。
本研究纳入了23名健康对照者（HC）和20名被诊断为svMCI的患者。所有参与者均接受了认知评估和磁共振成像（MRI）检查。本研究包括基于体素的形态学测量（VBM）、基于体素的定量磁化率成像（QSM）分析、基于感兴趣区（ROI）的QSM分析以及相关性分析。
svMCI患者的认知障碍比HC患者更为严重。VBM分析显示svMCI患者的扣带回存在灰质萎缩。基于体素的QSM分析显示，svMCI患者右侧额中回、左侧中央旁小叶的磁化率增加，右侧中央后回的磁化率降低。基于ROI的QSM分析显示，svMCI患者左侧尾状核和小脑的磁化率增加。此外，左侧中央扣带回皮质和旁扣带回的磁化率与蒙特利尔认知评估量表（MoCA）评分呈正相关（r = 0.538，p < 0.001），右侧额中回的磁化率与MoCA评分呈负相关（r = -0.418，p < 0.007）。
我们的研究结果表明，大脑形态学改变和铁负荷可能与svMCI患者的认知功能障碍有关，为探索认知功能障碍的潜在神经机制提供了新途径。
