AUTHOR=Ye Limei , Zhang Danbin , Shao Meihua , Zhao Pinghui , Yin Bo , Zhuang Jinfei , Wang Feifei , Yan Zhihan , Bai Guanghui TITLE=Lower Posttraumatic α-Synuclein Level Associated With Altered Default Mode Network Connectivity Following Acute Mild Traumatic Brain Injury JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neural Circuits VOLUME=13 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/fncir.2019.00026 DOI=10.3389/fncir.2019.00026 ISSN=1662-5110 ABSTRACT=

This study aimed to investigate the changes of α-synuclein in serum and its relationship with default mode network (DMN) connectivity after acute mild traumatic brain injury (mild TBI). Fifty-two patients with mild TBI at the acute phase and 47 matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. All participants received resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological assessments. Relations between the levels of α-synuclein in serum and clinical assessments were obtained using multivariate linear regression. Results showed that the patients with lower α-synuclein presented more complaints on post-concussion symptoms and depression. Moreover, patients with high levels of α-synuclein exhibited significantly decreased functional connectivity in the left precuneus and increased functional connectivity in both the left anterior cingulate cortex and ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) compared with patients with low levels of α-synuclein. These findings supported that α-synuclein may modulate the functional connectivity within the DMN and suggest the feasibility of using α-synuclein as an objective biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of mild TBI.