Scientific article
English

Sex differences in brain metabolic connectivity architecture in probable dementia with Lewy bodies

ContributorsCaminiti, Silvia Paola; Boccalini, Cécilia; Nicastro, Nicolas; Garibotto, Valentinaorcid; Perani, Daniela; The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published inNeurobiology of aging, vol. 126, p. 14-24
Publication date2023-06
First online date2023-02-17
Abstract

We investigated how sex modulates metabolic connectivity alterations in probable dementia with Lewy bodies (pDLB). We included 131 pDLB patients (males/females: 58/73) and similarly aged healthy controls (HC) (male/female: 59/75) with available (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans. We assessed (1) sex differences in the whole-brain connectivity, identifying pathological hubs, (2) connectivity alterations in functional pathways of the neurotransmitter systems, (3) Resting State Networks (RSNs) integrity. Both pDLBM (males) and pDLBF (females) shared dysfunctional hubs in the insula, Rolandic operculum, and inferior parietal lobule, but the pDLBM group showed more severe and diffuse whole-brain connectivity alterations. Neurotransmitters connectivity analysis revealed common alterations in dopaminergic and noradrenergic pathways. Sex differences emerged particularly in the Ch4-perisylvian division, with pDLBM showing more severe alterations than pDLBF. The RSNs analysis showed no sex differences, with decreased connectivity strength in the primary visual, posterior default mode, and attention networks in both groups. Extensive connectivity changes characterize both males and females in the dementia stage, with a major vulnerability of cholinergic neurotransmitter systems in males, possibly contributing to the observed different clinical phenotypes.

Keywords
  • Alpha-synuclein
  • Brain Hypometabolism
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Sex
  • Vulnerability
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Brain Mapping
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Insular Cortex
  • Lewy Body Disease / metabolism
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
Citation (ISO format)
CAMINITI, Silvia Paola et al. Sex differences in brain metabolic connectivity architecture in probable dementia with Lewy bodies. In: Neurobiology of aging, 2023, vol. 126, p. 14–24. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.02.004
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Journal ISSN0197-4580
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