• Gregory Brown, Jonathan Hakun, Mechelle M Lewis, Sol De Jesus, Guangwei Du, Paul J Eslinger, Lan Kong, and Xuemei Huang.
• Department of Neurology, Penn State University Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
• J Neuroimaging. 2023 Jan 1; 33 (1): 121133121-133.

Background And PurposeThe circuitry underlying heterogenous cognitive profiles in Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether structural changes in frontostriatal and limbic pathways contribute to different cognitive trajectories in PD.MethodsWe obtained clinical and multimodal MRI data from 120 control and 122 PD subjects without dementia or severe motor disability. T1/T2-weighted images estimated volume, and diffusion imaging evaluated fractional anisotropy (FA) of frontostriatal (striatum and frontostriatal white matter [FSWM]) and limbic (hippocampus and fornix) structures. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) gauged total and domain-specific (attention/executive and memory) cognitive function. Linear mixed-effects models were used to compare MRI and cognitive progression over 4.5 years between controls and PD and evaluate associations between baseline MRI and cognitive changes in PD.ResultsAt baseline, control and PD groups were comparable, except PD participants had smaller striatal volume (p < 0.001). Longitudinally, PD showed faster decline in hippocampal volume, FSWM FA, and fornix FA (ps < .016), but not striatal volume (p = .218). Total and domain-specific MoCA scores declined faster in PD (ps < .030). In PD, lower baseline hippocampal volume (p = .005) and fornix FA (p = .032), but not striatal volume (p = .662) or FSWM FA (p = .143), were associated with faster total MoCA decline. Baseline frontostriatal metrics of striatal volume and FSWM FA were associated with faster attention/executive decline (p < .038), whereas lower baseline hippocampal volume was associated with faster memory decline (p = .005).ConclusionIn PD, frontostriatal structural metrics are associated with attention/executive tasks, whereas limbic changes correlated with faster global cognitive decline, particularly in memory tasks.© 2022 American Society of Neuroimaging.

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