Objective: To investigate the associations between NBM/Ch4 volume and cortical thickness in PD.

Background: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves the cholinergic system, especially the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM/Ch4) in the basal forebrain (BF). Whether the NBM/Ch4-innervated neocortex shows parallel atrophy with the NBM/Ch4 as the disease progresses in PD patients with cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) remains unclear.

Method: We enrolled 35 PD-MCI, 48 PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC) and 33 age- and education-matched healthy controls (HCs). All patients underwent neuropsychological assessment and structural MRI. Correlation analyses between NBM/Ch4 volume and cortical thickness and correlation coefficient comparisons were conducted within and across groups.

Results: In the PD-MCI group, but not the PD-NC and HC groups, NBM/Ch4 volume was positively correlated with cortical thickness in the left posterior cingulate, insula, parietal, and frontal and the right posterior cingulate, parietal, and frontal regions (Figure 1). The NBM/Ch4 had a stronger effect on the right posterior cingulate and precuneus, rostral anterior cingulate and right orbitofrontal lobe in PD-MCI versus HC, and on the right orbitofrontal lobe and rostral anterior cingulate in PD-NC versus HC, based on correlation coefficient comparisons (Figure 2). Pearson correlations between cortical thickness and NBM/Ch4 volume were significant in the right medial orbitofrontal lobe (PD-NC: r = 0.52; PD-MCI: r = 0.44) and rostral anterior cingulate (PD-NC: r = 0.55; PD-MCI: r = 0.50) in the PD groups but in the right precuneus (r = 0.41) and posterior cingulate (r = 0.48) in the PD-MCI group (Figure 3).

Conclusion: The stronger effect of NBM/Ch4 on the cortex in PD-MCI patients suggested that NBM/Ch4 volume loss plays an important role in PD cognitive impairment, is involved in cholinergic- and dopaminergic-related cortex, and may promote the transition to PD with dementia (PDD).

« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/meynert-nucleus-related-cortical-thinning-in-parkinsons-disease-with-mild-cognitive-impairment/