Altered morphometric inverse divergence networks in Parkinson’s disease correlate with choroid plexus volume and perivascular spaces network

Abstract Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) show distinct cortical morphology, and their cognitive symptoms are linked to choroid plexus (CP) volume and perivascular space (PVS) network. However, the relationship between Morphometry INverse Divergence (MIND) and brain networks, CP volume, and the PVS network in patients with PD remains unclear. This study aimed to detect MIND network differences between patients with PD and healthy controls (HCs) and analyzed the correlation of MIND networks with CP volume and PVS network in patients with PD. This retrospective single-center study included HCs and patients with PD who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between March 2019 and November 2023. Using MIND network analysis, we quantified interregional structural similarities from multiple MRI anatomical measurements across brain areas in both groups. We then assessed the CP volume and PVS network parameters (including extracellular free water (FW), diffusion tensor imaging analysis along the PVS (DTI-ALPS) index, and PVS volume fraction) from MRI scans. We employed Pearson correlation analysis to examine the relationships of regional MIND values with CP volume and PVS network in patients with PD. Nineteen cortical regions showed MIND differences between patients with PD and HCs. Additionally, in patients with PD, MIND values positively correlated with CP volume and FW, negatively correlated with ALPS index, and did not significantly correlate with PVS. These findings advance our understanding of macrostructural alterations in PD and provide valuable insights into the specific associations between brain structure, CP volume, and the PVS network.