Longitudinal corpus callosum microstructural decline in early-stage Parkinson’s disease in association with akinetic-rigid symptom severity

Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of Parkinson’s disease (PD) show reduced microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum (CC) relative to controls, although the characteristics of such callosal degradation remain poorly understood. Here, we utilized a longitudinal approach to identify microstructural decline in the entire volume of the CC and its functional subdivisions over 2 years and related the callosal changes to motor symptoms in early-stage PD. The study sample included 61 PD subjects (N = 61, aged 45–82, 38 M & 23 F, H&Y ≤ 2) from the Parkinson’s Progressive Markers Initiative database (PPMI). Whole-brain voxel-wise results revealed significant fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) changes in the CC, especially in the genu and splenium. Using individually drawn CC regions of interest (ROI), our analysis further revealed that almost all subdivisions of the CC show significant decline in FA to certain extents over the two-year timeframe. Additionally, FA seemed lower in the right hemisphere of the CC at both time-points, and callosal FA decline was associated with FA and MD decline in widespread cortical and subcortical areas. Notably, multiple regression analysis revealed that across-subject akinetic-rigid severity was negatively associated with callosal FA at baseline and 24 months follow-up, and the effect was strongest in the anterior portion of the CC. These results suggest that callosal microstructure alterations in the anterior CC may serve as a viable biomarker for akinetic-rigid symptomology and disease progression, even in early PD.