Neural correlates of episodic future thinking impairment in multiple sclerosis patients

Recent clinical investigations showed impaired episodic future thinking (EFT) abilities in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. On these bases, the aim of the current study was to explore the structural and functional correlates of EFT impairment in nondepressed MS patients.

Twenty-one nondepressed MS patients and 20 matched healthy controls were assessed with the adapted Autobiographical Interview (AI), and patients were selected on the bases of an EFT impaired score criterion. The 41 participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session, distinguishing the construction and elaboration phases of the experimental EFT, and the categorical control tests. Structural images were also acquired.

During the EFT fMRI task, increased cerebral activations were observed in patients (relative to healthy controls) within the EFT core network. These neural changes were particularly important during the construction phase of future events and involved mostly the prefrontal region. This was accompanied by an increased neural response mostly in anterior, and also posterior, cerebral regions, in association with the amount of detail produced by patients. In parallel, structural measures corroborated a main positive association between the prefrontal regions' volume and EFT performance. However, no association between the hippocampus and EFT performance was observed in patients, at both structural and functional levels.

We have documented significant overlaps between the structural and functional underpinnings of EFT impairment, with a main role of the prefrontal region in its clinical expression in MS patients.