AUTHOR=Liu Ying , Huo Congcong , Lu Kuan , Liu Qianying , Xu Gongcheng , Ji Run , Zhang Tengyu , Shang Pan , Lv Zeping , Li Zengyong 

TITLE=Correlation Between Gait and Near-Infrared Brain Functional Connectivity Under Cognitive Tasks in Elderly Subjects With Mild Cognitive Impairment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.482447

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2021.482447

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have a high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Gait performance is a potential clinical marker for the progression of MCI into dementia. However, the relationship between gait and brain functional connectivity (FC) in older adults with MCI remains unclear. A total of 45 subjects (MCI group, n = 23; healthy control (HC) group, n = 22) were recruited. Each subject performed a walking task (Task 01), counting backwards–walking task (Task 02), naming animals–walking task (Task 03), and calculating–walking task (Task 04). The gait parameters and the cerebral oxygenation signals from the left prefrontal cortex (LPFC), right prefrontal cortex (RPFC), left motor cortex (LMC), right motor cortex (RMC), left occipital leaf cortex (LOL), and right occipital leaf cortex (ROL) were obtained simultaneously. The wavelet phase coherence (WPCO) was calculated in two frequency intervals: low frequency (interval I, 0.052–0.145 Hz) and very low frequency (interval II, 0.021–0.052 Hz) intervals. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the left and the right relative symmetry indices (IDpsL and IDpsR)  in Task 03 (F = 9.578, p = 0.000; F = 8.255, p = 0.000) and Task 04 (F = 9.578, p = 0.000; F = 8.255, p = 0.000) significantly decreased compared with Task 01 in the two groups. The step size symmetry index (IDspρ) in interval II was negatively correlated with the FC of LMC–LOL in the MCI group (R = −0.478, p = 0.033) and the FC of RMC–LOL in the HC group (R = −0.537, p = 0.032). Results suggested that gait symmetry was affected by dual tasks (DTs) in both groups. The brain invokes different cortical resources in the MCI and the HC groups during DTs. Future research should focus on the quantitative relationship between brain FC and gait parameters to improve the diagnosis and treatment of MCI.