Motivation: The mechanism of neurological changes in SLE patients remains unknown, and MRI is a noninvasive method used to estimate the Glymphatic System function. Goal(s): To investigate whether the function of Glymphatic System is impaired in SLE patients. Approach: We employed three noninvasive MRI indices: perivascular space (PVS), extracellular free water (FW), and diffusion tensor imaging analysis along PVS (DTI-ALPS) to assess the Glymphatic System function of SLE patients. Results: Compared to HCs, patients with SLE had significantly higher PVSVF-WM and FW-WM values, as well as lower ALPS-index. Furthermore, we found significant correlations among three MRI indices of the Glymphatic System across all participants. Impact: Our study revealed impairments in Glymphatic System of SLE patients, providing a noninvasive MRI biomarkers for comprehensively quantifying Glymphatic activity in SLE patients. Furthermore, the correlations among the components of Glymphatic System may explain the relationships among its structural compartments.
Wang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.