PMID- 36867595
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20230307
LR  - 20230420
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 18
IP  - 3
DP  - 2023
TI  - Sex differences in mild vascular cognitive impairment: A multimodal transcranial 
      magnetic stimulation study.
PG  - e0282751
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0282751 [doi]
LID - e0282751
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sex differences in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) at risk for 
      future dementia are still debatable. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is 
      used to evaluate cortical excitability and the underlying transmission pathways, 
      although a direct comparison between males and females with mild VCI is lacking. 
      METHODS: Sixty patients (33 females) underwent clinical, psychopathological, 
      functional, and TMS assessment. Measures of interest consisted of: resting motor 
      threshold, latency of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), contralateral silent 
      period, amplitude ratio, central motor conduction time (CMCT), including the F 
      wave technique (CMCT-F), short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), 
      intracortical facilitation, and short-latency afferent inhibition, at different 
      interstimulus intervals (ISIs). RESULTS: Males and females were comparable for 
      age, education, vascular burden, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Males scored 
      worse at global cognitive tests, executive functioning, and independence scales. 
      MEP latency was significantly longer in males, from both sides, as well CMCT and 
      CMCT-F from the left hemisphere; a lower SICI at ISI of 3 ms from the right 
      hemisphere was also found. After correction for demographic and anthropometric 
      features, the effect of sex remained statistically significant for MEP latency, 
      bilaterally, and for CMCT-F and SICI. The presence of diabetes, MEP latency 
      bilaterally, and both CMCT and CMCT-F from the right hemisphere inversely 
      correlated with executive functioning, whereas TMS did not correlate with 
      vascular burden. CONCLUSIONS: We confirm the worse cognitive profile and 
      functional status of males with mild VCI compared to females and first highlight 
      sex-specific changes in intracortical and cortico-spinal excitability to 
      multimodal TMS in this population. This points to some TMS measures as potential 
      markers of cognitive impairment, as well as targets for new drugs and 
      neuromodulation therapies.
CI  - Copyright: (c) 2023 Cantone et al. This is an open access article distributed under 
      the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted 
      use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author 
      and source are credited.
FAU - Cantone, Mariagiovanna
AU  - Cantone M
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9072-4971
AD  - Neurology Unit, University Hospital Policlinico "G. Rodolico-San Marco", Catania, 
      Italy.
FAU - Fisicaro, Francesco
AU  - Fisicaro F
AD  - Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 
      Catania, Italy.
FAU - Ferri, Raffaele
AU  - Ferri R
AD  - Clinical Neurophysiology Research Unit, Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina, 
      Italy.
FAU - Bella, Rita
AU  - Bella R
AD  - Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies, University 
      of Catania, Catania, Italy.
FAU - Pennisi, Giovanni
AU  - Pennisi G
AD  - Clinical Neurophysiology Research Unit, Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina, 
      Italy.
FAU - Lanza, Giuseppe
AU  - Lanza G
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5659-662X
AD  - Clinical Neurophysiology Research Unit, Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina, 
      Italy.
AD  - Department of Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, University of Catania, 
      Catania, Italy.
FAU - Pennisi, Manuela
AU  - Pennisi M
AD  - Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 
      Catania, Italy.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20230303
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
RN  - 15580-20-8 (1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-(4-morpholinyl)ethyl)carbodiimide)
SB  - IM
MH  - Humans
MH  - Female
MH  - Male
MH  - *Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
MH  - Sex Characteristics
MH  - *Cognitive Dysfunction
MH  - Anthropometry
PMC - PMC9983846
COIS- The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2023/03/04 06:00
MHDA- 2023/03/08 06:00
PMCR- 2023/03/03
CRDT- 2023/03/03 13:32
PHST- 2022/10/11 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/02/21 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/03/03 13:32 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/03/04 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/03/08 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2023/03/03 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-22-28100 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0282751 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2023 Mar 3;18(3):e0282751. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282751. 
      eCollection 2023.