Intra- and inter-network functional alterations in Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is prevalent in 15%-40% of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients at diagnosis. In this investigation, we study brain intra- and inter-network alterations in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in recently diagnosed PD patients and characterise them as either cognitive normal (PD-NC) or with MCI (PD-MCI). Patients were divided into two groups, PD-NC (N = 62) and PD-MCI (N = 37) and for comparison, healthy controls (HC, N = 30) were also included. Intra- and inter-network connectivity were investigated from participants' rs-fMRIs in 26 resting state networks (RSNs). Intra-network differences were found between both patient groups and HCs for networks associated with motor control (motor cortex), spatial attention and visual perception. When comparing both PD-NC and PD-MCI, intra-network alterations were found in RSNs related to attention, executive function and motor control (cerebellum). The inter-network analysis revealed a hyper-synchronisation between the basal ganglia network and the motor cortex in PD-NC compared with HCs. When both patient groups were compared, intra-network alterations in RSNs related to attention, motor control, visual perception and executive function were found. We also detected disease-driven negative synchronisations and synchronisation shifts from positive to negative and vice versa in both patient groups compared with HCs. The hyper-synchronisation between basal ganglia and motor cortical RSNs in PD and its synchronisation shift from negative to positive compared with HCs, suggest a compensatory response to basal dysfunction and altered basal-cortical motor control in the resting state brain of PD patients. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1702-1715, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.