artículo
Regional brain atrophy is related to social cognition impairment in multiple sclerosis
Fecha
2021Registro en:
10.1590/0004-282X-ANP-2020-0162
1678-4227
0004-282X
MEDLINE:34550187
WOS:000706741500003
Autor
Labbe Atenas, Tomás Pablo
Montalba Zalaquett, Cristian Andrés
Zurita Soler, Mariana
Ciampi Diaz, Ethel Leslie
Albornoz Cruz, Juan Pablo
Vásquez Torres, Macarena
Uribe Arancibia, Sergio Andrés
Crossley Karmelic, Nicolás Andrés
Cárcamo Rodríguez, Claudia Andrea
Institución
Resumen
Background: Multiple sclerosis exhibits specific neuropathological phenomena driving to both global and regional brain atrophy. At the clinical level, the disease is related to functional decline in cognitive domains as the working memory, processing speed, and verbal fluency. However, the compromise of social-cognitive abilities has concentrated some interest in recent years despite the available evidence suggesting the risk of disorganization in social life. Recent studies have used the MiniSEA test to assess the compromise of social cognition and have found relevant relationships with memory and executive functions, as well as with the level of global and regional brain atrophy. Objective: The present article aimed to identify structural changes related to socio-cognitive performance in a sample of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Methods: 68 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis Chilean patients and 50 healthy control subjects underwent MRI scans and neuropsychological evaluation including social-cognition tasks. Total brain, white matter, and gray matter volumes were estimated. Also, voxel-based morphometry was applied to evaluate regional structural changes. Results: Patients exhibited lower scores in all neuropsychological tests. Social cognition exhibited a significant decrease in this group mostly related to the declining social perception. Normalized brain volume and white matter volume were significantly decreased when compared to healthy subjects. The regional brain atrophy analysis showed that changes in the insular cortex and medial frontal cortices are significantly related to the variability of social-cognitive performance among patients. Conclusions: In the present study, social cognition was only correlated with the deterioration of verbal fluency, despite the fact that previous studies have reported its link with memory and executive functions. The identification of specific structural correlates supports the comprehension of this phenomenon as an independent source of cognitive disability in these patients.