Objective:To analyze the functional connectivity changes in the caudate nucleus in patients with Wilson's disease(WD)and cognitive impairment by using resting-state fMRI.Methods:19 patients with WD(WD group)and 24 normal healthy volunteers(the control group)were recruited,all of them underwent resting-state fMRI.Multiple methods,including the mini-mental status examination(MMSE),the verbal fluency test(VFT),the digit span test(DST)and the prospective memory(PM)test,were used to evaluate the cognitive function.Using AFNI software,the functional connectivity between the bilateral caudate nucleus and the other voxels in the whole brain was analyzed.In addition,the brain regions with different functional connectivity between the two groups were analyzed.Then,the correlations between the abnormal functional connectivity brain regions and the prospective memory scores(EBPM and TBPM scores)were analyzed.Results:The MMSE,VFT,DST,TBPM and EBPM scores in WD group were significantly lower than the control group(all P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the functional connectivity between the left caudate nucleus and bilateral thalamus,bilateral superior frontal gyrus,right middle frontal gyrus were decreased in WD group,and the functional connectivity between the right caudate nucleus and cerebellar vermis,bilateral lenticular nucleus,bilateral thalamus,bilateral superior frontal gyrus,right angular gyrus decreased as well.The value of the functional connectivity in WD group between the right caudate nucleus and right superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with EBPM score(r=0.508,P=0.028),and that between the right caudate nucleus and right thalamus was positively correlated with TBPM score(r=0.473,P=0.041).The value of the functional connectivity between the left caudate nucleus and left thalamus was positively correlated with TBPM score(r=0.462,P=0.047).Conclusions:Cognitive impairment in WD patients is closely related to impaired striatum-thalamus-cortex connectivity,especially the decreased functional connectivity between the caudate nucleus and thalamus,superior frontal gyrus.And fMRI can be used as an important research method for assessing brain dysfunction in WD patients.
Magnetic resonance imagingWilson's diseaseCaudate nucleusWhole brain functional connectivityCognitive function