Understanding the association between psychomotor processing speed and white matter hyperintensity: A comprehensive multi‐modality MR imaging study

Wang, Shuyue; Jiaerken, Yeerfan; Yu, Xinfeng; Shen, Zhujing; Luo, Xiao; Hong, Hui; Sun, Jianyong; Xu, Xiaojun; Zhang, Ruiting; Zhou, Ying; Lou, Min; Huang, Peiyu; Zhang, Minming

doi:10.1002/hbm.24826

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 77 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…The microstructural integrity in the genu and splenium showed the highest significant relation with global cognitive function and executive functions, in the cingulum bundle with verbal memory performance ( Tuladhar et al, 2015 ). A recent multi-modality MRI study has shown that WMHs, combined with the disruption of passing-through fiber integrity and altered functional activities in areas connected by this fiber, are associated with a decline of psychomotor processing speed ( Wang et al, 2020a ). Moreover, the widespread WM microstructural impairments disrupt the large-scale distributed brain cognitive networks and underlie the various cognitive dysfunctions in ILA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupted Structural Brain Connectome Is Related to Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Ischemic Leukoaraiosis

Lü

Wang

Cui

et al. 2021

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Ischemic leukoaraiosis (ILA) is related to cognitive impairment and vascular dementia in the elderly. One possible mechanism could be the disruption of white matter (WM) tracts and network function that connect distributed brain regions involved in cognition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between structural connectome and cognitive functions in ILA patients. A total of 89 patients with ILA (Fazekas score ≥ 3) and 90 healthy controls (HCs) underwent comprehensive neuropsychological examinations and diffusion tensor imaging scans. The tract-based spatial statistics approach was employed to investigate the WM integrity. Graph theoretical analysis was further applied to construct the topological architecture of the structural connectome in ILA patients. Partial correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationships between network measures and cognitive performances in the ILA group. Compared with HCs, the ILA patients showed widespread WM integrity disruptions. The ILA group displayed increased characteristic path length (Lp) and decreased global network efficiency at the level of the whole brain relative to HCs, and reduced nodal efficiencies, predominantly in the frontal–subcortical and limbic system regions. Furthermore, these structural connectomic alterations were associated with cognitive impairment in ILA patients. The association between WM changes (i.e., fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity measures) and cognitive function was mediated by the structural connectivity measures (i.e., local network efficiency and Lp). In conclusion, cognitive impairment in ILA patients is related to microstructural disruption of multiple WM fibers and topological disorganization of structural networks, which have implications in understanding the relationship between ILA and the possible attendant cognitive impairment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupted Structural Brain Connectome Is Related to Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Ischemic Leukoaraiosis

Lü

Wang

Cui

et al. 2021

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…On a neurobiological level, reduced psychomotor speed is associated with reduced white matter integrity in several parts of the brain, such as corpus callosum and basal ganglia ( Karbasforoushan et al., 2015 ; Tsapanou et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2020 ). Such reduced white matter integrity may be induced by inflammation and peripheral cytokines ( Benedetti et al., 2016 ; Najjar and Pearlman, 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, psychomotor speed is associated with reduced white matter integrity in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of healthy volunteers and patients with schizophrenia ( Karbasforoushan et al., 2015 ; Wang et al., 2020 ). This relation is prominent in several areas of the brain, including the basal ganglia ( Tsapanou et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between cytokines and psychomotor speed in a spectrum of psychotic disorders: A longitudinal study

Larsen

Reitan

Løberg

et al. 2021

Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health

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Background In schizophrenia, impaired psychomotor speed is a common symptom predicting worse functional outcome. Inflammation causes changes in white matter integrity, which may lead to reduced psychomotor speed. Therefore, we wanted to investigate if peripheral inflammation assessed with cytokines affected performance on psychomotor speed in patients with a spectrum of psychotic disorders. Methods The current study is a prospective cohort study, including participants from a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial comparing three atypical antipsychotics in patients with a spectrum of psychotic disorders. For the purposes of this sub-study, we analysed drug treatment groups collectively. Psychomotor speed was assessed at baseline, and at weeks 6, 12, 26 and 52 of follow-up, using the neuropsychological tests trail making test (TMT) A and B, and symbol coding. Serum concentration of the following cytokines were measured: interleukin (IL)-β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL12 p70, IL-17a, interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Blood samples were collected at baseline and after 1, 3, 6, 12, 26, 39 and 52 weeks. We analysed the effect of cytokines levels on psychomotor speed over time in linear mixed effects models. Results In our linear mixed effects models controlling for possible confounders, IFN-γ had a significant negative effect on TMT-A and symbol coding performance. None of the other tests for psychomotor speed were significantly associated with cytokines. Overall psychomotor speed performance increased significantly across the study period while cytokine levels remained stable. Conclusion Our study indicates a negative association between IFN-γ and psychomotor speed, which might be of importance when understanding the mechanisms behind psychomotor deviations in psychotic disorders.

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“…We recruited patients admitted to the Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, who received brain MRI and were diagnosed with CSVD between December 2015 and December 2020. More details about the cohort can be found in previously published studies (Wang et al ., 2020; Huang, Zhang, Jiaerken, Wang, Hong, et al ., 2021). Visual assessment of WMH presence (Fazekas scores) was performed by 2 neuroradiologists (R.Z.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lesion prediction algorithm (LPA) of the Lesion Segmentation Toolbox (http://www.applied-statistics.de/lst.html) in SPM was used to automatically segment WMH lesions in the T2-FLAIR image of each subject under study. Previous studies (Cedres et al ., 2020; Vanderbecq et al ., 2020; Wang et al ., 2020; Zhang et al ., 2021) have shown successful applications of the LPA algorithm in WMH segmentation using T2-FLAIR. Each segmented result was visually inspected and manually corrected by expert readers (S.W.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superficial white matter microstructure affects processing speed in cerebral small vessel disease

Wang

Zhang

Huang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are a typical feature of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). This condition contributes to about 50% of dementias worldwide, a massive health burden in aging. Microstructural alterations in the deep white matter (DWM) have been widely examined in CSVD. However, little is known about abnormalities in the superficial white matter (SWM) and their relevance for processing speed, the main cognitive deficit in CSVD. In this paper, 141 patients with CSVD were studied. Processing speed was assessed by the completion time of the Trail Making Test Part A. White matter abnormalities were assessed by WMH burden (lesion volume on T2-FLAIR) and diffusion MRI, including DTI and free-water (FW) imaging microstructure measures. The results of our study indicate that the superficial white matter may play a particularly important role in cognitive decline in CSVD. SWM imaging measures resulted in a large contribution to processing speed, despite a relatively small WMH burden in the SWM. SWM FW had the strongest association with processing speed among all imaging markers and, unlike the other diffusion MRI measures, significantly increased between two patient subgroups with the lowest WMH burdens (possibly representing early stages of disease). When comparing two patient subgroups with the highest WMH burdens, the involvement of WMH in the SWM was accompanied by significant differences in processing speed and white matter microstructure. Given significant effects of WMH volume and regional FW on processing speed, we performed a mediation analysis. SWM FW was found to fully mediate the association between WMH volume and processing speed, while no mediation effect of DWM FW was observed. Overall, our findings identify SWM abnormalities in CSVD and suggest that the SWM has an important contribution to processing speed. Results indicate that FW in the SWM is a sensitive marker of microstructural changes associated with cognition in CSVD. This study extends the current understanding of CSVD-related dysfunction and suggests that the SWM, as an understudied region, can be a potential target for monitoring pathophysiological processes in future research.

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Understanding the association between psychomotor processing speed and white matter hyperintensity: A comprehensive multi‐modality MR imaging study

Cited by 18 publications

References 77 publications

Disrupted Structural Brain Connectome Is Related to Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Ischemic Leukoaraiosis

Disrupted Structural Brain Connectome Is Related to Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Ischemic Leukoaraiosis

The association between cytokines and psychomotor speed in a spectrum of psychotic disorders: A longitudinal study

Superficial white matter microstructure affects processing speed in cerebral small vessel disease

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