Interactions between functional networks in Parkinson's disease mild cognitive impairment

Abstract The study of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is critical to understand the underlying processes of cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Functional connectivity (FC) disruptions in PD-MCI patients have been observed in several networks. However, the functional and cognitive changes associated with the disruptions observed in these networks are still unclear. Using a data-driven methodology based on independent component analysis, we examined differences in FC RSNs among PD-MCI, PD cognitively normal patients (PD-CN) and healthy controls (HC) and studied their associations with cognitive and motor variables. A significant difference was found between PD-MCI vs PD-CN and HC in a FC-trait comprising sensorimotor (SMN), dorsal attention (DAN), ventral attention (VAN) and frontoparietal (FPN) networks. This FC-trait was associated with working memory, memory and the UPDRS motor scale. SMN involvement in verbal memory recall may be related with the FC-trait correlation with memory deficits. Meanwhile, working memory impairment may be reflected in the DAN, VAN and FPN interconnectivity disruptions with the SMN. Furthermore, interactions between the SMN and the DAN, VAN and FPN network reflect the intertwined decline of motor and cognitive abilities in PD-MCI. Our findings suggest that the memory impairments observed in PD-MCI are associated with reduced FC within the SMN and between SMN and attention networks.