Chen Yiwen, Li Meng, Li Jing, Gao Yian, Sui Chaofan, Wang Na, Zhang Xinyue, Wang Yuanyuan, Cheng Zhenyu, Liang Pengcheng, Guo Lingfei, Zhang Qihao, Liang Changhu
Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education; Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, 324 Jing-Wu Road, Jinan, Shandong 250021, China.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Center for Intervention and Research on adaptive and maladaptive brain Circuits underlying mental health (C-I-R-C), Halle-Jena-Magdeburg, Germany.
Neurobiol Dis. 2025 Aug;212:106964. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2025.106964. Epub 2025 May 20.
Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is associated with microstructural changes in subcortical gray matter linked to cognitive function. These changes may vary across different subregions. The aim of our study was to explore microstructural alterations in subcortical gray matter subregions associated with cognition in CSVD patients using magnetic resonance (MR) quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).
A total of 295 participants were included in the study, consisting of 112 healthy controls (HC), 85 with mild CSVD, and 98 with severe CSVD. All participants underwent MRI scans and cognitive function assessments. QSM images were segmented into 32 subcortical gray matter regions. Differences in susceptibility values across the three groups and their relationships with clinical and cognitive function were analyzed.
After adjusting for potential confounders, the susceptibility values of the posterior part of the right hippocampus (pHIPr) (β = 1.209, P = 0.030) and the posterior part of the right caudate (pCAUr) (β = 4.373, P = 0.005) were positively correlated with CSVD severity. In the CSVD cohort, the mean susceptibility values of pCAUr were significantly associated with various cognitive functions. Furthermore, a simple mediation model demonstrated that the mean susceptibility value of pCAUr mediated the relationship between CSVD burden and SCWT score (indirect effect = 2.309, 95 % CI = 0.450-4.986, Pm = 21.5 %).
Our study revealed a relationship between microstructural changes of subcortical gray matter in CSVD patients and cognitive function and highlighted the potential of QSM in detecting brain microstructural alterations associated with cognition.
脑小血管病（CSVD）与认知功能相关的皮质下灰质微观结构变化有关。这些变化可能在不同亚区域有所不同。我们研究的目的是使用磁共振（MR）定量磁化率成像（QSM）探索CSVD患者中与认知相关的皮质下灰质亚区域的微观结构改变。
共有295名参与者纳入研究，包括112名健康对照（HC）、85名轻度CSVD患者和98名重度CSVD患者。所有参与者均接受了MRI扫描和认知功能评估。QSM图像被分割为32个皮质下灰质区域。分析了三组之间磁化率值的差异及其与临床和认知功能的关系。
在调整潜在混杂因素后，右侧海马后部（pHIPr）（β = 1.209，P = 0.030）和右侧尾状核后部（pCAUr）（β = 4.373，P = 0.005）的磁化率值与CSVD严重程度呈正相关。在CSVD队列中，pCAUr的平均磁化率值与各种认知功能显著相关。此外，一个简单的中介模型表明，pCAUr的平均磁化率值介导了CSVD负担与符号数字模式测验（SCWT）分数之间的关系（间接效应 = 2.309，95% CI = 0.450 - 4.986，Pm = 21.5%）。
我们的研究揭示了CSVD患者皮质下灰质微观结构变化与认知功能之间的关系，并强调了QSM在检测与认知相关的脑微观结构改变方面的潜力。
