Disrupted Spontaneous Neural Activity Related to Cognitive Impairment in Postpartum Women

Abstract

Purpose: Prior research has demonstrated that the postpartum period is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. This study aims to investigate whether disrupted spontaneous neural activity exists in postpartum women without depression using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and to detect the relationship between these abnormalities and cognitive impairment.Materials and Methods: Postpartum women (n = 22) were compared with age- and education-matched nulliparous women (n = 23) using rs-fMRI. We calculated the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values to evaluate spontaneous neural activity and detect the relationship between rs-fMRI data and cognitive performance.Results: Relative to nulliparous women, postpartum women had significantly decreased ALFF and ReHo values primarily in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and prefrontal cortex and increased ALFF values in left cerebellar posterior lobe. We found a positive correlation between the ALFF and ReHo values in the PCC and the complex figure test (CFT)-delayed scores in postpartum women (r = 0.693, p = 0.001; r = 0.569, p = 0.011, respectively). Moreover, the clock-drawing test (CDT) scores showed positive correlations with the ALFF and ReHo values in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG; r = 0.492, p = 0.033; r = 0.517, p = 0.023, respectively).Conclusion: Our combined ALFF and ReHo analyses revealed decreased spontaneous neural activity, mainly in the PCC and prefrontal cortex, which was correlated with specific impaired cognitive functioning in postpartum women. This study may elucidate the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying postpartum cognitive impairment and enhance our understanding of the neurobiological aspects of the postpartum period.

Decreased Spontaneous Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity in Type 1 Diabetic Patients Without Microvascular Complications

“…On the other hand, ReHo may be more sensitive at Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry detecting regional brain abnormalities than ALFF. The combination of the ALFF and ReHo may provide a more comprehensive pathophysiological assessment of human brain dysfunctions than either method alone or other combinations [26][27][28], indicating that the coexisting neural intensity and coherence abnormalities in specific brain regions may represent more severe brain changes than those revealed by a single method. Thus, we utilized these two common methods as well as FC analysis to identify whole-brain spontaneous neural activity and connectivity in T1DM.…”

Disruption within brain default mode network in postpartum women without depression

“…[ 19 ] Moreover, the postpartum women had significantly poorer CFT-delay score than the nulliparous women, which was used to assess the visuospatial memory and visuospatial skills. [ 21 , 27 ] In addition, the PCC is also recognized for its role in self-referential processing and social cognition. [ 37 ] Thus, our results suggest that decreased FC of the PCC may be responsible for the impaired visuospatial memory and self-referential processing in postpartum women.…”

“…[ 17 ] In addition, aberrant brain activity of the PCC in postpartum women has been confirmed in prior studies. [ 15 , 21 , 22 ] Therefore, cognitive impairment in postpartum women may be linked with the FC alterations of PCC. However, the abnormal FC activity of the PCC in postpartum women and its effect on cognitive function remains largely unknown.…”

Altered Regional Homogeneity in Patients With Corneal Ulcer: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

“…Associated with deliberative decision making, SFG has significantly and positively abnormal fMRI signals in individuals under acute social stress (Chang and Yu, 2018). It also has relationship with cognitive function (Zheng J. et al, 2018). In our study, the CU patients had increased ReHo values in bilateral SFC, it may help explain the unusual mental state of CU patient.…”