Aims

To investigate the relationship between emotion processing and resting state-functional connectivity (RS-FC) in healthy controls and in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Methods

We recruited 80 FTLD (26 bvFTD, 10 PSP, 12 PPA, and 32 ALS) and 65 healthy controls. Participants underwent a RS-functional MRI (RS-fMRI) and the Comprehensive Affect Testing System. In each group, correlation models were performed between each emotion construct and RS-FC changes.

Results

A high performance at the emotion naming was related in controls with decreased RS-FC of the right inferior temporal gyrus within the right frontoparietal-network; and in FTLD patients with increased RS-FC of the frontal regions within salience, frontoparietal and executive-control networks. Furthermore, a high performance at the emotion differentiation was related in healthy controls with decreased RS-FC of the right middle temporal gyrus within the salience-network; and in FTLD patients with increased RS-FC of the left inferior and medial-orbitofrontal gyri, and right thalamus within the subcortical-network. Finally, a high performance at the emotion matching was related in both healthy controls and FTLD groups with increased RS-FC of precuneus and vermis within the visual-network, and with further increased RS-FC of bilateral lingual, middle temporal and calcarine gyri in FTLD group only.

Conclusions

In FTLD compared to controls, RS-FC associated with emotional performance involves a larger number of brain regions, which are linked to the disease development and progression. These findings offer new potential markers for detecting functional vulnerability linked to social interactions.

Funding: Italian Ministry of Health (GR-2013-02357415); European Research Council (StG-2016_714388_NeuroTRACK).