Sex differences in resting state network (RSN) functional connections with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression

Sex plays an important role in many diseases. The purpose of current study is to explore whether there are different lesion patterns in the RSN functional connections between males and females with MCI progression, and identify the differences in brain network changes due to sex. Resting state fMRI data included 37 normal controls (NC), 39 early MCI (EMCI) patients and 37 late MCI (LMCI) patients were collected, and network model based on graph theory was performed to compare the differences of brain network at different stages caused by sex from three aspects: functional connectivity between ROIs, intra-functional connectivity within RSN and inter-functional connectivity between RSN and white matter (WM). Sex plays a role in the changes of RSN functional connectivity, including the default mode network (DMN), the sensory-motor network (SMN), the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the executive control network (CON). The female SMN is more vulnerable and the damage of functional connectivity between DAN and WM is more serious. There are different lesion patterns in the RSN functional connections between males and females in the progression of MCI, which suggests that we should take full account of sex differences when conducting MCI progress studies and developing more effective biomarkers to promote the progress of cognitive impairment and dementia.