Simani Leila, Tozlu Ceren, Lee Seonjoo, Dworkin Jordan, Ratzan Alexander S, Buyukturkoglu Korhan, Onomichi Kaho, Mata Jennie, Riley Claire S, Leavitt Victoria M
Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Mult Scler. 2025 Feb;31(2):207-217. doi: 10.1177/13524585241303491. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
Memory decline is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), although pathophysiological mechanisms are not fully understood.
The objective was to investigate the relationship of changes in structural and functional neuroimaging markers to memory decline over 3-year follow-up.
Participants with MS underwent cognitive evaluation and structural, diffusion, and functional 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at baseline and 3-year follow-up. Changes in neuroimaging metrics from baseline to follow-up were compared between memory stable and memory decline groups. Our hypothesis that structural and functional connectivity changes mediate the association of atrophy to memory decline was tested.
A total of 249 MS patients completed baseline visit; 169 (67.8%) returned at 3-year follow-up. Based on ⩾10% decline, memory decline was observed in 44.4% ( = 75). Those with memory decline showed marginally greater whole-brain volume loss over time compared with those with stable memory performance ( = 0.08). In those with memory decline, changes in white matter tract integrity were related to regional cortical thinning ( < 0.01). Exploratory mediation analysis revealed structural and functional connectivity to mediate the relationship of atrophy to verbal and visual memory decline.
Further work is needed to characterize complex interrelationships of atrophy and structural/functional connectivity changes to memory decline in MS.
记忆衰退在多发性硬化症（MS）中很常见，尽管其病理生理机制尚未完全明确。
本研究旨在探讨在3年随访期间，结构和功能神经影像学标志物的变化与记忆衰退之间的关系。
患有MS的参与者在基线期和3年随访期接受了认知评估以及结构、弥散和功能3T磁共振成像（MRI）扫描。对记忆稳定组和记忆衰退组从基线期到随访期的神经影像学指标变化进行比较。我们检验了结构和功能连接性变化介导萎缩与记忆衰退之间关联的假设。
共有249名MS患者完成了基线期访视；169名（67.8%）在3年随访期返回。基于⩾10%的衰退率，44.4%（n = 75）的患者出现了记忆衰退。与记忆表现稳定的患者相比，记忆衰退患者随时间推移的全脑体积损失略大（P = 0.08）。在记忆衰退患者中，白质束完整性的变化与区域皮质变薄有关（P < 0.01）。探索性中介分析显示，结构和功能连接性介导了萎缩与言语和视觉记忆衰退之间的关系。
需要进一步开展工作，以明确MS中萎缩以及结构/功能连接性变化与记忆衰退之间复杂关系的特征。
