Brain functional connectivity changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with apathy and depression

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Apathy and depression are common in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
• Distinguishing these symptoms is clinically important for diagnosis, prognosis, and management.
• Previous research has insufficiently investigated their distinct neural correlates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess apathy and depressive symptoms in ALS patients.
• To determine if these symptoms have similar or different functional neural correlates.
• To compare brain functional organization in patients with different symptom profiles and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• Used graph analysis and connectomics to assess brain functional connectivity.
• Analyzed global and lobar nodal properties in four patient groups (ALSn, ALSa, ALSd, ALSad) and healthy controls.
• Correlated brain functional properties with apathy and depressive symptom severity.

Main Results:

• Depression linked to reduced path length in bilateral basal ganglia (BG).
• Apathy linked to increased path length, decreased nodal strength, and local efficiency in the left BG network.
• Apathetic patients showed altered functional properties in parietal, occipital, and frontal networks compared to non-apathetic patients.

Conclusions:

• Findings reveal distinct neural organization patterns for apathy and depression in ALS.
• Emphasizes the clinical importance of differentiating these neuropsychiatric symptoms.
• Highlights the need for tailored interventions based on symptom presentation.