Degenerative change in the nucleus basalis of Meynert, a group of cholinergic neurons in the substantia innominata (SI) of the basal forebrain, begins in the early stages of Parkinson disease (PD) and is known to be significantly correlated with cognitive performance. We found decreased resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in bilateral frontal areas using bilateral SI mask as a seed and significant correlation between decreased rsFC and shorter disease duration before mild cognitive impairment was diagnosed in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, our results support that cholinergic deficit plays an important role in the acceleration of cognitive decline and conversion to PD dementia.
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