Abstract #0238

Cerebellar-cerebral connections with the default mode network influence working memory performance in MS

Giovanni Savini^1,2, Matteo Pardini³, Alessandro Lascialfari^1,4, Declan Chard⁵, David Miller⁵, Egidio D'Angelo^2,6, and Claudia Angela Michela Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott^2,5

¹Department of Physics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy, ²Brain Connectivity Center, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy, ³Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, ⁴Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ⁵NMR Research Unit, Queen Square MS Centre, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁶Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

The cerebellum is linked to the default mode network (DMN) and its contribution to non-motor functions is now increasingly recognized. In Multiple Sclerosis (MS) motor and cognitive functions are both impaired. Here we aimed at assessing a possible link between cognition and cerebellar-cerebral fibers disruption in MS. Probabilistic tractography and graph theory derived metrics were compared to Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) scores in MS. We found that accounting for cerebellar-cerebral connections when calculating DMN graph metrics yielded a stronger correlation between network efficiency and SDMT scores, suggesting that disruption of the cerebellar-cerebral connections has significant cognitive consequences in MS.

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