Dynamic functional connectivity in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition

The objective was to assess dynamic functional connectivity (FC) and local/global connectivity in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and with normal cognition (PD-NC). The sample included 35 PD patients and 26 healthy controls (HC). Cognitive assessment followed an extensive neuropsychological battery. For resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) analysis, independent component analysis (ICA) was performed and components were located in 7 networks: Subcortical (SC), Auditory (AUD), Somatomotor (SM), visual (VI), cognitive-control (CC), default-mode (DMN), and cerebellar (CB). Dynamic FC analysis was performed using the GIFT toolbox. FC differences between groups in each FC state were analysed with the network-based statistic (NBS) approach. Finally, a graph-theoretical analysis for local/global parameters was performed. The whole sample showed 2 dynamic FC states during the rs-fMRI. PD-MCI patients showed decreased mean dwell time in the hypo-connectivity state (p = 0.030) and showed increased number of state transitions (p = 0.007) compared with the HC. In addition, in the hypo-connectivity state, PD-MCI patients showed reduced inter-network FC between the SM-CC, SM-VI, SM-AUD, CC-VI and SC-DMN compared with the HC (p < 0.05-FDR). These FC alterations in PD-MCI were accompanied by graph-topological alterations in nodes located in the SM network (p < 0.001). In contrast, no differences were found between the PD-NC and HC. Findings suggest the presence of dynamic functional brain deteriorations in PD-MCI that are not present in PD-NC, showing the PD-MCI group dynamic FC dysfunctions, reduced FC mostly between SM-CC networks and graph-topological deteriorations in the SM network. A dynamic FC approach could be helpful to understand cognitive deterioration in PD.