• Jing Zhang, Yun-Ting Zhang, Wei-Dong Hu, Li Li, Guang-Yao Liu, and Yu-Ping Bai.
• Department of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University Lanzhou 730030, China.
• Int J Clin Exp Med. 2015 Jan 1; 8 (9): 15383-92.

PurposeMild cognitive impairment is common in Parkinson's disease, but the underlying pathological mechanism has not been fully understood. To examine the gray matter changes in patients with Parkinson's disease and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using voxel based Morphometry (VBM).MethodsMagnetic resonance images were obtained from 35 patients with PD and 20 age and sex-matched healthy control subjects. In the PD group, 14 subjects had no MCI and 21 had MCI. MRI 3D structural images were acquired and analyzed by means of the optimized VBM procedure with Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM5).ResultsWidespread areas of cortical atrophy were found in patients with PD compared with normal controls (in both temporal, occipital, parietal, frontal lobes and right limbic lobes, posterior lobes of the cerebellum and left caudate nucleus). Gray matter reductions were found in bilateral fusiform gyrus and lingual gyrus, left anterior cingulate cortex and insula, and right superior temporal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, central gyrus and precuneus in patients with PD with MCI compared with normal controls. Inpatients with PD with MCI, areas of reduced gray matter were found in both precentral gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, right cuneus, precuneus, and orbitofrontal cortex, and left fusiform gyrus compared with those without MCI.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that PD is associated with the gray matter atrophy in the neocortical areas, and that cognitive impairment in patients with PD may be associated with gray matter changes in the parieto-occipital association cortex, right orbitofrontal cortex, and middle temporal gyrus.

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