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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1455020

Functional Activity, Functional Connectivity and Complex Network Biomarkers of Progressive Hyposmia Parkinson's Disease with No Cognitive Impairment: Evidences from Resting-state fMRI Study

Provisionally accepted
Lei Geng Lei Geng 1Wenfei Cao Wenfei Cao 2Juan Zuo Juan Zuo 3Hongjie Yan Hongjie Yan 4Jinxin Wan Jinxin Wan 1Yi Sun Yi Sun 1Nizhuan Wang Nizhuan Wang 5*
  • 1 Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, Shandong, China
  • 3 Lianyungang Fourth People's Hospital, Lianyungang, China
  • 4 Affiliated Lianyungang Hospital, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 5 Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Olfactory dysfunction stands as one of the most prevalent non-motor symptoms in the initial stage of Parkinson's disease (PD). Nevertheless, the intricate mechanisms underlying olfactory deficits in Parkinson's disease still remain elusive. Methods: This study collected rs-fMRI data from 30 PD patients (15 with severe hyposmia (PD-SH) and 15 with no/mild hyposmia (PD-N/MH)) and 15 healthy controls (HC). To investigate functional segregation, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were utilized. Functional connectivity (FC) analysis was performed to explore the functional integration across diverse brain regions. Additionally, the graph theory-based network analysis was employed to assess functional networks in PD patients. Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to delve deeper into the relationship between the severity of olfactory dysfunction and various functional metrics; Results: We discovered pronounced variations in ALFF, ReHo, FC, and topological brain network attributes across the three groups, with several of these disparities exhibiting a correlation with olfactory scores. Conclusion: Using fMRI, our study analyzed brain function in PD-SH, PD-N/MH, and HC groups, revealing impaired segregation and integration in PD-SH and PD-N/MH. We hypothesize that changes in temporal, frontal, occipital, and cerebellar activities, along with aberrant cerebelluminsula connectivity and node degree and betweenness disparities, may be linked to olfactory dysfunction in PD patients.

    Keywords: Parkinson Disease, hyposmia, Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity, functional connectivity, Brain functional network

    Received: 26 Jun 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Geng, Cao, Zuo, Yan, Wan, Sun and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nizhuan Wang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.