Increased regional gray matter atrophy and enhanced functional connectivity in male multiple sclerosis patients

•At early stages of the disease, male multiple sclerosis (MS) patients display a higher degree of gray matter atrophy than female MS patients.•As compared to female MS patients, male multiple sclerosis patients display enhanced functional connectivity in several brain pathways.•Enhanced funcional co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2016-09, Vol.630, p.154-157
Main Authors: Sanchis-Segura, C., Cruz-Gómez, A.J., Belenguer, A., Fittipaldi Márquez, M.S., Ávila, C., Forn, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Atrophy
Brain - pathology
Brain - physiopathology
Brain Mapping
Cognition
Female
Functional connectivity
Gender
Gray Matter - pathology
Gray Matter - physiopathology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis - pathology
Multiple Sclerosis - physiopathology
Sex Factors
Voxel-based morphometry
Young Adult
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Summary:•At early stages of the disease, male multiple sclerosis (MS) patients display a higher degree of gray matter atrophy than female MS patients.•As compared to female MS patients, male multiple sclerosis patients display enhanced functional connectivity in several brain pathways.•Enhanced funcional connectivity in male MS patients seem to be a secondary consequence of gray matter atrophy.•These and other previous results are suggestive of a faster and/or worse prognosis in male multiple sclerosis patients. Evidence suggests that sex/gender is an important factor for understanding multiple sclerosis (MS) and that some of its neuropathological consequences might manifest earlier in males. In the present study, we assessed gray matter (GM) volume and functional connectivity (FC) in a sample of female and male MS patients (MSp) and female and male healthy controls (HCs). As compared to female MSp, male MSp showed decreased GM volume in the bilateral frontal areas and increased FC between different brain regions. Because both sets of changes correlated significantly and no differences in cognitive performance were observed, we suggest that the FC increase observed in male MSp acts as a compensatory mechanism for their more extensive GM loss and that it promotes a functional convergence between male- and female-MSp.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2016.07.028