Affiliations: [a] State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| [b] Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| [c] Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| [d] Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Zaizhu Han, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Tel.: +86 10 58804690; E-mail: zzhhan@bnu.edu.cn and Qihao Guo, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China. Tel.: +86 2152888162; E-mail: dr.guoqihao@126.com.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Background: Semantic dementia (SD) is characterized by a selective decline in semantic processing. Although the neuropsychological pattern of this disease has been identified, its topological global alterations and symptom-relevant modules in the whole-brain anatomical network have not been fully elucidated. Objective:This study aims to explore the topological alteration of anatomical network in SD and reveal the modules associated with semantic deficits in this disease. Methods:We first constructed the whole-brain white-matter networks of 20 healthy controls and 19 patients with SD. Then, the network metrics of graph theory were compared between these two groups. Finally, we separated the network of SD patients into different modules and correlated the structural integrity of each module with the severity of the semantic deficits across patients. Results:The network of the SD patients presented a significantly reduced global efficiency, indicating that the long-distance connections were damaged. The network was divided into the following four distinctive modules: the left temporal/occipital/parietal, frontal, right temporal/occipital, and frontal/parietal modules. The first two modules were associated with the semantic deficits of SD. Conclusion:These findings illustrate the skeleton of the neuroanatomical network of SD patients and highlight the key role of the left temporal/occipital/parietal module and the left frontal module in semantic processing.
