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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1365307

Static and Dynamic Brain Morphological Changes in Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder compared to Normal Aging

Provisionally accepted
Hyunjin Jo Hyunjin Jo 1Gilsoon Park Gilsoon Park 2Yaqiong Chai Yaqiong Chai 2Hea Ree Park Hea Ree Park 3EUN YEON JOO EUN YEON JOO 1*Hosung Kim Hosung Kim 2*
  • 1 Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 3 Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital, Goyang-si, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To assess whether cerebral structural alterations in isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) are progressive and differ from those of normal aging and whether they are related to clinical symptoms.In a longitudinal study of 18 patients with iRBD (age, 66.1±5.7 years; 13 males; follow-up, 1.6±0.6 years) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (age, 67.0±4.9 years; 12 males; follow-up, 2.0±0.9 years), all participants underwent multiple extensive clinical examinations, neuropsychological tests, and magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and follow-up. Surfacebased cortical reconstruction and automated subcortical structural segmentation were performed on T1-weighted images. We used mixed-effects models to examine the differences between the groups and the differences in anatomical changes over time.None of the patients with iRBD demonstrated phenoconversion during the follow-up. Patients with iRBD had thinner cortices in the frontal, occipital, and temporal regions, and more caudate atrophy, compared to that in controls. In similar regions, group-by-age interaction analysis revealed that patients with iRBD demonstrated significantly slower decreases in cortical thickness and caudate volume with aging than that observed in controls. Patients with iRBD had lower scores on the Korean version of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (p=0.037) and frontal and executive functions (p=0.049) at baseline than those in controls; however, no significant group-by-age interaction was identified.Patients with iRBD show brain atrophy in the regions that are overlapped with the areas that have been documented to be affected in early stages of Parkinson's disease. Such atrophy in iRBD may not be progressive but may be slower than that in normal aging. Cognitive impairment in iRBD is not progressive.

    Keywords: rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, Longitudinal Studies, Cerebral Cortical Thinning, Subcortical volume atrophy, MRI analysis

    Received: 04 Jan 2024; Accepted: 16 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jo, Park, Chai, Park, JOO and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    EUN YEON JOO, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
    Hosung Kim, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90033, California, United States

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