Edge-Centric Analysis Of Functional Brain Network In Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease(PD)is a kind of neurodegenerative disease which mainly occurs in the elderly population.Its main pathological change is the degeneration and loss of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia nigra,which may be the result of the combined effects of aging factors,genes and environment.So far,its pathogenesis remains unclear.Exploring its neuropathological mechanism is helpful for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Advances in neuroimaging techniques,especially functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(f MRI),have allowed researchers to map functional changes between brain regions in patients with neuropathic diseases.In current studies,the modular structure of the brain is mostly estimated through node-centric models,which ignores potentially meaningful features or patterns of interrelationship between edges.Recently,an edge-centric framework has been proposed for studying functional brain networks.In this model,resting-state functional connectivity(rs FC)is accurately decomposed into "edge time series" in time dimension to measure the contribution of brain interval co-fluctuation to the overall functional connectivity pattern at each time point.However,this model is rarely used by researchers to study the characteristics of diseases.Therefore,this paper aims to explore the application of edge-centric analysis in PD functional brain network from the perspective of space and time.Study 1 quantifies the interregional functional interaction of subjects from the perspective of space based on "edge time series",and then studies the mechanism of abnormal functional interaction of subcortical-cortical circuits.The results showed that the average "node entropy" of PD decreased in the whole brain,and the "node entropy" reached a peak in the right putamen and anterior cingulate cortex.At the system scale,the regional functional interaction between the putamen and the primary system and the heteromodal system is significantly reduced.Furthermore,these changes were associated with the H&Y(Hoehn and Yahr)staging of the PD scale.Study 1 suggest that the putamen may play a key role in regulating subcortical-cortical functional interactions,providing evidence of deficiencies in regional functional interactions.Study 2 first proposes a new non-parametric,high-resolution dynamic functional brain network research method based on "edge time series",and then applied to PD to explore the dynamic abnormal mechanism of its functional activity state.The results showed that PD presented abnormal dynamic characteristics in most states,and functional connectivity presented different modes in different states,and the dynamic characteristics of PD abnormalities were significantly correlated with the severity of movement disorders.study 2 provides new findings and insights into the dynamic brain mechanism of PD.In conclusion,this paper successfully applied the model based on edge-centric analysis to PD,explored the functional interaction mechanism of subcortical-cortical circuits from the perspective of space,explored the mechanism of abnormal dynamic functional brain network from the perspective of time,expanded the understanding of the pathological mechanism of PD,and provided meaningful information for understanding the brain network dysfunction of PD.At the same time,it promotes the application of the model based on edge-centric analysis in disease.