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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Controlled Cortical Impact Model for Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: August 5, 2014
[Causal impact of chronic periodontitis on brain corticospinal tract microstructures]
Ruiqing Wang1, Yu Jin, Weiming Guo
1Department of Orthodontics, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; National Center for Stomatology; National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology; Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology. Shanghai 200011, China.
Purpose:
To investigate whether periodontitis (PD) induces microstructural alterations in specific WM tracts, particularly the corticospinal tract (CST), which is associated with motor function.
Methods:
Based on genome wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics from PD (45 563 samples) and CST imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) (31 356 samples), two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed. The primary analysis was conducted using inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, supplemented by weighted median (WM), MR-Egger regression, robust adjusted profile score (MR-RAPS), and constrained maximum likelihood and model averaging bayesian information criterion (cML). Sensitivity analysis was performed using Cochran Q test, Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO), and leave-one-out (LOO) analysis.
Results:
MR analysis revealed positive associations between PD and CST fractional anisotropy (FA)(β=0.07, P=6.11×10-3) and negative associations with mean diffusivity (MD)(β=-0.06, P=3.90×10-2). These findings remained consistent across sensitivity analysis. PD led to an increase in FA values and a decrease in MD within the CST, indicating that the integrity of the CST was compromised.
Conclusions:
PD has a detrimental causal impact on the integrity of CST microstructures, potentially increasing the risk of CST lesions. Therefore, this study suggests that effective clinical prevention and treatment of PD are necessary.
