Disrupted brain metabolic connectivity in a 6-OHDA-induced mouse model of Parkinson’s disease examined using persistent homology-based analysis

Movement impairments in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the consequent disruption of connectivity in the cortico-striatal-thalamic loop. This study evaluated brain metabolic connectivity in a 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced mouse model of PD using (18)F-fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). Fourteen PD-model mice and ten control mice were used for the analysis. Voxel-wise t-tests on FDG PET results yielded no significant regional metabolic differences between the PD and control groups. However, the PD group showed lower correlations between the right caudoputamen and the left caudoputamen and right visual cortex. Further network analyses based on the threshold-free persistent homology framework revealed that brain networks were globally disrupted in the PD group, especially between the right auditory cortex and bilateral cortical structures and the left caudoputamen. In conclusion, regional glucose metabolism of PD was preserved, but the metabolic connectivity of the cortico-striatal-thalamic loop was globally impaired in PD.