A Study Of The Brain Function Network In PSCI Patients Treated With Acupuncture

Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate the topological properties in post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)patients treat with acupuncture using a graph theoretical analysis.Materials and methods:A total of 22 PSCI patients and 14 healthy controls were recruited in this study.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)was performed in both groups.All PSCI patients underwent Mini-Mental Atate Examination(MMSE)and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA).The graph theory analysis was applied to construct the whole-brain network and yield the small-world properties and nodal properties.The independent sample t test was used to analyze changes in the network metrics of PSCI patients and the normal controls;the paired sample t test was used to analyze changes of the network metrics in PSCI patients before and after acupuncture intervention.Relationships between these topological properties and cognitive assessments were investigated in PSCI patients.Results:The networks of all participants exhibited efficient small-world topology over the sparsity range of 0.1-0.28.Compared with the healthy subjects,the PSCI patients had a decreased normalized clustering coefficient(γ)、clustering coefficient(Cp)and local efficiency(Eloc)of the whole-brain network in the resting state.The post-acupuncture variables of the whole-brain network had no statistical significance.Furthermore,PSCI patients showed altered nodal centrality,primarily in the default mode network(DMN)and the executive control network(ECN).And the patients’nodal local efficiency in all different brain regions increased.The nodal centrality of several brain regions involved in the occipital lobe was increased after acupuncture treatment compared with before treatment in PSCI patients.The local efficiency of some nodes located in the occipital temporal lobe increased,while the local efficiency of nodes in the right angular gyrus decreased.In PSCI patients,the AUC of nodal local efficiency of right orbital superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with the score of MOCA scale.The degree centrality AUC of left inferior occipital gyrus in PSCI patients after acupuncture treatment was negatively correlated with the score of MOCA scale.Conclusion:The functional brain network of patients with PSCI still has small-world network attributes,but some topological attributes have changed.There are specifically reflected in the decrease of γ、Cp、Eloc and the nodal properties(betweenness centrality,degree centrality,nodal local efficiency)of the cognitive area change.These results suggest that the cognitive function decline of PSCI patients is related to the disorder of functional brain network topology.PSCI patients after acupuncture treatment had mainly changed in nodal properties.The results showed that nodal centrality and nodal local efficiency in brain regions related to cognitive function increased.Our data suggested that acupuncture therapy can regulate the nodal topological properties of functional brain network in patients with PSCI,and improve the cognitive function of patients to a certain extent.