Altered connectivity in the cognitive control-related prefrontal cortex in Parkinson’s disease with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) frequently occurs in Parkinson’s disease (PD), however, the exact pathophysiological mechanism is not clear. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), especially ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) which may play roles by regulating cognitive control processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is abnormal functional connectivity (FC) maps and volume changes in PD with RBD(PD-RBD). We recruited 20 PD-RBD, 20 PD without RBD (PD-nRBD), and 20 normal controls (NC). We utilized resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-MRI) to explore FC changes based on regions of interest (VLPFC, DLPFC, and IFG), and used voxel-based morphology technology to analyze whole-brain volumes by 3D-T1 structural MRI. Except the REM sleep behavioral disorders questionnaire (RBDSQ), the PD-RBD showed lower visuospatial/executive and attention scores than the NC group. The RBDSQ scores were significantly positively correlated with zFC of right DLPFC to bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) ( P = 0.0362, R = 0.4708, AlphaSim corrected) and also significantly positively correlated with zFC of left VLPFC to right inferior temporal ( P = 0.0157, R = 0.5323, AlphaSim corrected) in PD-RBD group. Furthermore, abnormal correlations with zFC values were also found in some cognitive subdomains in PD-RBD group. The study may suggest that in PD-RBD patients, the presence of RBD may be related to the abnormal FC of VLPFC and DLPFC, meanwhile, the abnormal FC of DLPFC and IFG may be related to the mechanisms of cognitive impairment.