Treatment Enhances Betweenness Centrality of Fronto-Parietal Network in Parkinson’s Patients

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated a close relationship between early Parkinson’s disease and functional network abnormalities. However, the pattern of brain changes in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease has not been confirmed, which has important implications for the study of clinical indicators of Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, we investigated the functional connectivity before and after treatment in patients with early Parkinson’s disease, and further investigated the relationship between some topological properties and clinicopathological indicators. We included resting state-fMRI (rs-fMRI) data from 27 patients with early Parkinson’s disease aged 50–75 years from the Parkinson’s Disease Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The results showed that the functional connectivity of 6 networks, cerebellum network (CBN), cingulo_opercular network (CON), default network (DMN), fronto-parietal network (FPN), occipital network (OCC), and sensorimotor network (SMN), was significantly changed. Compared to before treatment, the main functional connections were concentrated in the CBN after treatment. In addition, the coefficients of these nodes have also changed. For betweenness centrality (BC), the FPN showed a significant improvement in treatment (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the alteration of functional networks in early Parkinson’s patients is critical for clarifying the mechanisms of early diagnosis of the disease.

Extra-Basal Ganglia Brain Structures Are Related to Motor Reserve in Parkinson’s Disease

“…Similarly, precuneus was also reported to be connected to basal ganglia and motor control [52]. Additionally, the fronto-parietal network is associated with clinical symptoms and treatment in PD [53,54]. Therefore, all the changes in the aforementioned structures would be reflected as MR which may compensate for parkinsonism resulting from dopaminergic degeneration in patients with PD.…”

Structural connectivity and brain network analyses in Parkinson's disease: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study

“…Significant between-group and within-group differences were observed in betweenness centrality, nodal degree, and the strength in several nodes. Differences in the betweenness centrality metric may be associated with altered functional connectivity in PD ( 60 ) and were found in nodes mainly located in the frontal and temporal lobes. Differences in nodal degree were found mainly in caudate, frontal, occipital, and temporal lobes for HC vs. PD, as well as in the insula and putamen in the longitudinal comparison.…”

Higher betweenness and degree centrality in the frontal and cerebellum cortex of Meige’s syndrome patients than hemifacial spasm patients

“…Investigations on structural and functional interactions among overall brain regions help us better understand the pathogenesis of neurological diseases [31]. Degree centrality and betweenness centrality are two main concepts of graph theory, and altered degree centrality or betweenness centrality have been widely reported in the occurrence [23] or recovery [22] of a disease. Although both are dystonia diseases with facial muscle twitching, Meige's syndrome often shows bilateral while the HFS is almost unilateral suffered.…”

“…The idea of betweenness centrality is that if a node is on multiple shortest paths of other nodes, then that node is a core member and has greater mediation centrality [21]. Then betweenness centrality change can also be a predictor of successful treatment of Parkinson's disease [22]. Therefore, degree centrality and betweenness centrality are two important topological properties in the functional brain network [23].…”