ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1641820
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroinflammation, Neurodegeneration, and Auditory-Vestibular DisordersView all 20 articles
Neuroanatomical changes in early Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment: gray matter and white matter damage
Provisionally accepted
- Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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Objectives: This study aims to investigate grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) changes in early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) using high-resolution T1weighted and diffusion-weighted MR images.Methods: We recruited 40 PD-MCI patients, 26 PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC), and 40 healthy controls (HC). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM) were performed to assess the relationship between gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and cognitive ability. Microstructural white matter changes were evaluated using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) with diffusion tensor imaging measures.Results: White matter structural abnormalities were widespread in PD-MCI patients (corpus callosum, corona radiata, superior longitudinal fasciculus, left cerebral peduncle, and left corticospinal tract), with more pronounced involvement in the left cerebral hemisphere compared to healthy controls.Additionally, PD-MCI patients exhibited localized cortical atrophy in the left parieto-occipital region (calcarine, lingual gyrus, and precuneus), left parahippocampal gyrus, fusiform gyrus and entorhinal cortex. A significant positive correlation was observed between reduced gray matter volume (GMV) in the left parieto-occipital region and lower MoCA scores in the PD-MCI group (𝑝 < 0.001, R = 0.565).Conclusion: Even in early-stage disease, our study demonstrates widespread WM microstructural damage but only subtle GM atrophy in PD-MCI, particularly in the left hemisphere. These findings provide new evidence to enhance our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and pathological basis underlying cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.
Keywords: Early Parkinson's disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Surface-based morphometry (SBM), Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS)
Received: 05 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Niu, Liao, Tan, Shen, Liu, Cai, Huang, Lin and Deng. 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: Haiyan Liao, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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