Progressive Cerebrovascular Reactivity Reduction Occurs in Parkinson's Disease: A Longitudinal Study

The change of microvascular function over the course of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear.

We aimed to ascertain regional cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) changes in the patients with PD at baseline (V0) and during a 2-year follow-up period (V1). We further investigated whether alterations in CVR were linked to cognitive decline and brain functional connectivity (FC).

We recruited 90 PD patients and 51 matched healthy controls (HCs). PD patients underwent clinical evaluations, neuropsychological assessments, and magnetic resonance (MR) scanning at V0 and V1, whereas HCs completed neuropsychological assessments and MR at baseline. The analysis included evaluating CVR and FC maps derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and investigating CVR measurement reproducibility.

Compared with HCs, CVR reduction in left inferior occipital gyrus and right superior temporal cortex at V0 persisted at V1, with larger clusters. Longitudinal reduction in CVR of the left posterior cingulate cortex correlated with decline in Trail Making Test B performance within PD patients. Reproducibility validation further confirmed these findings. In addition, the results also showed that there was a tendency for FC to be weakened from posterior to anterior with the progression of the disease.

Microvascular dysfunction might be involved in disease progression, subsequently weaken brain FC, and partly contribute to executive function deficits in early PD. © 2023 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.