Dynamic properties in functional connectivity changes and striatal dopamine deficiency in Parkinson’s disease

Introduction

Recent studies in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients reported disruptions in dynamic functional connectivity (dFC, i.e., a characterization of spontaneous fluctuations in functional connectivity over time). Here, we assessed whether the integrity of striatal dopamine terminals directly modulates dFC metrics in separate PD cohorts, indexing dopamine-dependent changes in large-scale brain network dynamics and its implications in clinical features.

Methods

We pooled data from two cohorts reflecting early PD. From the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) cohort, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) and dopamine transporter (DaT) SPECT were available for 63 PD patients and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. From the clinical research group 219 (KFO) cohort, rsfMRI imaging was available for 52 PD patients and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. A subset of 41 PD patients and 13 healthy control subjects additionally underwent ¹⁸ F-DOPA-PET imaging. The striatal synthesis capacity of ¹⁸ F-DOPA PET and dopamine terminal quantity of DaT SPECT images were extracted for the putamen and the caudate. After rsfMRI pre-processing, an independent component analysis was performed on both cohorts simultaneously. Based on the derived components, an individual sliding window approach (44s window) and a subsequent k-means clustering were conducted separately for each cohort to derive dFC states (reemerging intra- and interindividual connectivity patterns). From these states we derived temporal metrics, such as average dwell time per state, state attendance, and number of transitions and compared them between groups and cohorts. Further, we correlated these with the respective measures for local dopaminergic impairment and clinical severity.

Results

In both cohorts, dFC analysis resulted in three distinct states, varying in connectivity patterns and strength. In the PPMI cohort, PD patients showed a lower state attendance for the globally integrated (GI) state (X ² (1, N=79) = 5.82, p = 0.016) and a lower number of transitions (U(N=79) = 337.5, z = −2.06 p= .039) than controls. Significantly, worse motor scores (UPDRS-III) and dopaminergic impairment in the putamen and the caudate were associated with low average dwell time in the GI state (UPDRS-III: τ _b (N=63) = −.281; p =.003, DaT putamen: τ _b (N=63)=.213, p = .023, DaT caudate: τ _b (N=63)=.209, p = .025) and a low total number of transitions (UPDRS-III: τb(N=63)= −.308; p = .001, DaT putamen: τ _b (N=63)=.350, p <.001, DaT caudate: τ _b (N=63)=.251, p =.007). Additionally, worse motor performance was associated with a low number of bi-directional transitions between the GI and the lesser connected (LC) state (τ _b (N=63)= −.237; p = .019). These results could not be reproduced in the KFO cohort: No group differences in dFC measures or associations between dFC variables and dopamine synthesis capacity or clinical measure were observed.

Conclusion

In early PD, relative preservation of motor performance may be linked to a more dynamic engagement of an interconnected brain state. Specifically, those large-scale network dynamics seem to depend on striatal dopamine availability. Notably, we obtained these results in only one cohort, but not in a replication sample.

Key points

• Exploring dopamine’s role in brain network dynamics in two Parkinson’s disease (PD) cohorts, we unraveled PD-specific changes in dynamic functional connectivity (dFC).

• In the discovery cohort, results suggest striatal dopamine availability influences large-scale network dynamics that are relevant in motor control.

• In the confirmation cohort, these findings were not replicated, indicating PD-specific dFC changes are dependent on unrecognized cohort features.