Abnormal static and dynamic functional connectivity of networks related to cognition in patients with subcortical...

To investigate the specific features of static functional connectivity (SFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) of networks related to cognition in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD).

In this retrospective study, resting-state functional MRI data and a series of cognitive scores were obtained from 38 patients with SIVD and 23 normal controls. Independent component analysis, sliding window method, k-means clustering analysis and graph theory method were used to examine FC between the default mode network (DMN), dorsal attention network (DAN), frontoparietal network (FPN), salience network (SN) and executive control network (ECN) in patients with SIVD. Then, correlations between abnormal FC features and cognition were assessed.

Compared with normal controls, SFC within the DMN significantly increased and SFC between the DMN and DAN significantly decreased in patients with SIVD. The decreased DFC mainly occurred in weakly connected states, especially the DFC of the SN; but the increased DFC, global network efficiency and local network efficiency and the decreased mean dwell time (MDT) and frequency mainly occurred in strongly connected states in SIVD patients. Moreover, aberrant SFC, DFC and MDT were significantly correlated with patients' cognitive scores.

The overall results are suggestive of abnormal functional segregation and integration of SFC and DFC among networks related to cognition, especially in the SN. This may advance our comprehensive understanding of the abnormal changes in brain network connectivity in patients with SIVD. Our findings also highlight DFC may be an effective neuroimaging marker for the clinical diagnosis of SIVD.