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Analyzing Mitochondrial Transport and Morphology in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
Published on: February 9, 2020
Mutations in the SPAST gene causing hereditary spastic paraplegia are related to global topological alterations in
Rosaria Rucco1,2, Marianna Liparoti3, Francesca Jacini3,4
1Department of Science and Technology, University of Naples Parthenope, Naples, Italy.
Aim:
Our aim was to describe the rearrangements of the brain activity related to genetic mutations in the SPAST gene.
Methods:
Ten SPG4 patients and ten controls underwent a 5 min resting state magnetoencephalography recording and neurological examination. A beamformer algorithm reconstructed the activity of 90 brain areas. The phase lag index was used to estimate synchrony between brain areas. The minimum spanning tree was used to estimate topological metrics such as the leaf fraction (a measure of network integration) and the degree divergence (a measure of the resilience of the network against pathological events). The betweenness centrality (a measure to estimate the centrality of the brain areas) was used to estimate the centrality of each brain area.
Results:
Our results showed topological rearrangements in the beta band. Specifically, the degree divergence was lower in patients as compared to controls and this parameter related to clinical disability. No differences appeared in leaf fraction nor in betweenness centrality.
Conclusion:
Mutations in the SPAST gene are related to a reorganization of the brain topology.
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