Cognitive fatigue in multiple sclerosis is associated with alterations in the functional connectivity of monoamine circuits

• DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab023
• Publication Date: 2021-03-03T20:32:35Z
• Authors: Mara Cercignani; Ottavia Dipasquale; Iulia Bogdan; Tiziana Carandini; James Scott; Waqar Rashid; Osama Sabri; Swen Hesse; Michael Rullmann; Leonardo Lopiano; Mattia Veronese; Daniel Martins; Marco Bozzali
• Keywords: Monoaminergic

Abstract Fatigue is a highly prevalent and debilitating symptom in multiple sclerosis, but currently the available treatment options have limited efficacy. The development of innovative efficacious targeted treatments for fatigue sclerosis has been marred by knowledge underlying mechanisms. One hypotheses postulates that pathology might cause reduced monoaminergic release central nervous system with consequences on motivation, mood attention. Here, we applied recently developed Receptor-Enriched Analysis Functional Connectivity Targets method to investigate whether patients high low differ functional connectivity (FC) monoamine circuits brain. We recruited 55 which were then classified as fatigued or mildly based their scores cognitive sub-scale Modified Impact scale. acquired resting-state MRI scans derived individual maps associated distribution dopamine, noradrenaline serotonin transporters measured positron emission tomography. found present decreased transporter (NAT)-enriched several frontal prefrontal areas when compared those lower fatigue. NAT-enriched FC predicted negatively scores. Our findings support idea alterations catecholaminergic underlie identify NAT putative therapeutic target directed pathophysiology.