Sex-Specific regional brain activity and cognitive function in mild cognitive impairment: An rs-fMRI study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of dementia, with higher prevalence in females.
• Sex differences exist in MCI-related brain alterations.
• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is crucial for evaluating brain activity at rest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate sex-specific regional brain activity in MCI patients during resting states.
• To identify differences in brain activity between male and female MCI patients and normal controls (NCs).

Main Methods:

• Utilized rs-fMRI to assess brain activity in 86 MCI patients and 107 NCs.
• Measured regional homogeneity (ReHo), degree centrality (DC), amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), and fractional ALFF (fALFF).

Main Results:

• MCI females showed increased ReHo in the right cerebellum inferior compared to NC females and MCI males.
• MCI males exhibited increased ReHo in the left hippocampus compared to NC males and MCI females.
• ReHo in the right cerebellum inferior correlated with visuospatial skills (MCI males) and language function (MCI females).
• ReHo in the left hippocampus correlated with attention function in MCI females, but not MCI males.
• Sex moderated the relationship between ReHo in the right cerebellum inferior and cognitive functions, and between ReHo in the left hippocampus and attention.

Conclusions:

• Significant sex differences in ReHo were observed in the right inferior cerebellum and left hippocampus in MCI.
• The association between ReHo and cognitive impairment in MCI is sex-dependent.
• These findings support the development of sex-specific precision medicine for MCI.