Farzaneh Rahmani1 and MohammadHadi Aarabi1
1Students'Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Synopsis
The basis of Parkinson disease (PD) pathology is
accumulation of α-synuclein particles (Lewy bodies) in the presynaptic terminal
and perikaria of neocortex, cerebellum, thalamus and SN.
Features of the lipid profile specially cholesterol levels are association with PD risk. However no such data exists on the association of these plasma markers with structural brain changes in PD. The primary site of PD pathology is the nigrostriatal tract which then progresses to the cingulium. The nigrostriatal tract is extensively damaged prior to PD onset. Lower plasma levels of apoA-I is associated with earlier onset of PD and greater putaminal DAT deficit and a more rapid motor decline in PD . However apoA-I levels have never been investigated regarding changes in structural brain connectivity. The our results show that apoA-I levels in drug_naïve patients are associated with structural changes in the even prior to pathologic involvement of cingulium.
Introduction
Features of the lipid profile specially
cholesterol levels are association with PD risk. However no such data exists on
the association of these plasma markers with structural brain changes in PD.
The primary site of PD pathology is the nigrostriatal tract which then
progresses to the cingulium. The nigrostriatal tract is extensively damaged
prior to PD onset. Lower plasma levels of apoA-I is associated with
earlier onset of PD and greater putaminal DAT deficit and a more rapid motor
decline in PD [1,2] . However apoA-I levels have never been investigated
regarding changes in structural brain connectivity. Here we applied the
connectometry framework to analyses structural connectivity in drug-naïve PD
patients using a multiple regression model considering cholesterol, non-HDL
cholesterol, apoA_I, EGF, LDL, HDL, Age, and Sex and using False Discovery Rate
to evaluation our finding.
Methods
We included 39 PPMI subjects Mean age=63.8±8.4)
and 23 healthy age-sex matched controls Mean age=63±9) for whom plasma samples
and diffusion imaging were available from the baseline visit. Data used in
the preparation of this paper was obtained from Parkinson's Progression Markers
Initiative (PPMI) database (www.ppmi-info.org/data/) [3]. This dataset was
acquired on a 3 Tesla Siemens scanner, producing 64 DWI (repetition time = 7748
ms, echo time = 86 ms; voxel size: 2.0×2.0×2.0 mm3. Plasma levels of
apoA-I and a basic lipid panel (comprised of HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, and
triglycerides) were measured using a Roche Cobas c501 automated biochemical
analyzer (Tina-quant assay, catalog number 03032566-122).The diffusion data
were reconstructed in the MNI space using qspace diffeomorphic reconstruction
to obtain the spin distribution function by DSI-Studio[4]. A diffusion sampling
length ratio of 1.25 was used, and the output resolution was 2 mm . Diffusion MRI connectometry was conducted in a total of 39 subjects
using a multiple regression model considering Cholesterol,Non.HDL, apoA-I, EGF,
LDL, HDL, Age, and Sex. A percentage threshold of 50 %, 100 % and 200 % were
used to select local connectomes correlated with Plasma factors. A
deterministic fiber tracking algorithm was conducted to connect the selected
local connectomes. A length threshold of 52 mm were used to select tracks. The
seeding density was 20 seeds per mm3. To estimate the false discovery rate, a
total of 1000, 2000 and 4000 randomized permutations were applied to the group
label to obtain the null distribution of the track length.
Result
The analysis showed a significant negative
correlation (FDR= 0.04) between Apo_AI of PD (Table 1) and another factors have
no association with structural brain network and connectivity in two fiber
pathways: 1) Cingulium, 2) Corticospinal Tracts (CST). Also Table 2 shows there
is no association between Plasma factors, age and sex in normal cases.
Figure 2 shows the significant pathway which areassociated with Apo_A.
Conclusion
The cingulate gyrus is both functionally and
structurally disturbed in PD, as a functional part of the limbic
system. The cingulate is critical to emotion formation and autonomic
function; while playing a key role in response initiation, planning memory,
predominant executive dysfunction [5] and visuospatial skills, which are all
impaired in early stages of PD [6]. In our study we found that lower
quantitative anisotropy in posterior cingulium might be associated with higher
plasma level of apoA-I in drug-naïve PD patients (Figure 1). Moreover
higher levels of apoA-I might also negatively associated with anisotropy in
some areas of midbrain, probably the initial portions of the nigrostriatal
fibers, which are considered the primary site of Lewy body pathology in PD
(Figure 1). These pathological changes spread to the dorsal vagal nucleus and
anterior olfactory nucleus and then involve the limbic system and cinguliumat
stage 5 of pathological changes and finally reach the neocortex [7]. Nearly
half of the dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway are lost before
initiation of PD symptoms [8], however a direct measuring of the pathological
progression of the disease is not yet feasible [9].
Acknowledgements
PPMI –
a public-private partnership – is funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for
Parkinson’s Research and funding partners, including [list the full names of
all of the PPMI funding partners found at www.ppmi-info.org/fundingpartners. The authors thank Dr.Pasalar for
her kindly support of this work.
References
[1] C. R. Swanson, Y. Berlyand, S. X. Xie, R.
N. Alcalay, L. M. Chahine, and A. S. Chen-Plotkin, "Plasma apolipoprotein
A1 associates with age at onset and motor severity in early Parkinson's disease
patients," Mov Disord, vol. 30, pp. 1648-56, Oct 2015.
[2] J. K. Qiang, Y. C. Wong, A. Siderowf, H. I.
Hurtig, S. X. Xie, V. M. Lee, et al., "Plasma apolipoprotein A1 as a
biomarker for Parkinson disease," Ann Neurol, vol. 74, pp. 119-27, Jul
2013.
[3] "The Parkinson Progression Marker
Initiative (PPMI)," Prog Neurobiol, vol. 95, pp. 629-35, Dec 2011.
[4] F. C. Yeh, D. Badre, and T. Verstynen,
"Connectometry: A statistical approach harnessing the analytical
potentialof the local connectome," Neuroimage, Oct 21 2015.
[5] G. Gattellaro, L. Minati, M. Grisoli, C.
Mariani, F.Carella, M. Osio, et al., "White matter involvement
inidiopathic Parkinson disease: a diffusion tensor imagingstudy," American
Journal of Neuroradiology, vol. 30, pp.1222-1226, 2009.
[6] G. W. Duncan, M. J. Firbank, A. J. Yarnall,
T. K. Khoo,D. J. Brooks, R. A. Barker, et al., "Gray and white
matterimaging: A biomarker for cognitive impairment in earlyParkinson's
disease?," Movement Disorders, 2015.
[7] H. Braak and K. Del Tredici, "Invited
Article: Nervoussystem pathology in sporadic Parkinson disease,"Neurology,
vol. 70, pp. 1916-1925, 2008.
[8] K. Yoshikawa, Y. Nakata, K. Yamada, and M.
Nakagawa,"Early pathological changes in the parkinsonian braindemonstrated
by diffusion tensor MRI," Journal ofNeurology, Neurosurgery &
Psychiatry, vol. 75, pp. 481484,2004.
[9] M. M. Mielke and W. Maetzler,
"A'bird's eye'view on thecurrent status and potential benefits of blood
biomarkersfor Parkinson's disease," Biomarkers in medicine, vol. 8,p. 225,
2014.