Structural brain connectivity in patients with restless legs syndrome: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging
• Systems Biology

Background:

• Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs.
• The underlying pathophysiology of RLS, particularly concerning brain structural connectivity, remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alterations in global and local structural brain connectivity in patients diagnosed with primary Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).
• To correlate these connectivity changes with the severity of RLS symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to acquire brain data from 69 primary RLS patients and 51 healthy controls.
• Employed DSI studio software and graph theory principles to calculate network measures of global and local structural brain connectivity.

Main Results:

• Patients with RLS exhibited significantly lower global structural connectivity (transitivity) compared to healthy controls.
• Local structural connectivity measures, including characteristic path length, graph radius, and diameter, positively correlated with RLS severity.
• Conversely, mean clustering coefficient, global efficiency, small-worldness index, and transitivity negatively correlated with RLS severity.

Conclusions:

• RLS is associated with decreased segregation in brain networks, indicative of altered global structural connectivity.
• Changes in local structural connectivity, particularly in sensorimotor regions, are implicated in RLS.
• These findings enhance the understanding of RLS pathophysiology and symptom presentation.