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. 2017 Jun 8;18(1):48.
doi: 10.1186/s12868-017-0367-y.

White matter damage and systemic inflammation in Parkinson's disease

Pi-Ling Chiang  1 , Hsiu-Ling Chen  1 , Cheng-Hsien Lu  2   3 , Pei-Chin Chen  1 , Meng-Hsiang Chen  1 , I-Hsiao Yang  1 , Nai-Wen Tsai  2 , Wei-Che Lin  4
Affiliations

White matter damage and systemic inflammation in Parkinson's disease

Pi-Ling Chiang et al. BMC Neurosci. .

Abstract

Background: Systemic inflammation and white matter (WM) alterations have been noted as effects of Parkinson's disease (PD). This study sought to evaluate WM integrity in PD patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and to assess its relationship with systemic inflammation.

Methods: Sixty-six patients with PD (23 men and 43 women) and 67 healthy volunteers (29 men and 38 women) underwent blood sampling to quantify inflammatory markers and DTI scans to determine fiber integrity. The inflammatory markers included leukocyte apoptosis, as well as cellular and serum adhesion molecules, in each peripheral blood sample. DTI-related indices [including fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD), and mean diffusivity (MD)] were derived from DTI scans. The resulting FA maps were compared using voxel-based statistics to determine differences between the PD and control groups. The differences in the DTI indices, clinical severity, and inflammatory markers were correlated.

Results: Exploratory group-wise comparison between the two groups revealed that the PD patients exhibited extensive DTI index differences. Low FA accompanied by high RD and MD, without significant differences in AD, suggesting a demyelination process, were found in the parietal, occipital, cerebellar, and insular WM of the PD patients. The declined DTI indices were significantly correlated with increased clinical disease severity, adhesion molecules, and leukocyte apoptosis.

Conclusions: Patients with PD experience WM integrity damage in vulnerable regions, and these impairments are associated with increased disease severity and systemic inflammation. The possible interactions among them may represent variant neuronal injuries and their consequent processes in PD.

Keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; Parkinson’s disease; Systemic inflammation; White matter damage.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Lower FA values were found in patients with PD (n = 66) versus control subjects (n = 67) in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (parietal lobe), right superior longitudinal fasciculus (parietal lobe), right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (occipital lobe), left superior longitudinal fasciculus (postcentral gyrus), left cerebellum, and left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (insula)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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