Dataset Information

Aberrant Functional Connectivity Architecture in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Whole-Brain, Data-Driven Analysis.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of our study was to investigate whether the whole-brain functional connectivity pattern exhibits disease severity-related alterations in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in 27 MCI subjects, 35 AD patients, and 27 age- and gender-matched subjects with normal cognition (NC). Interregional functional connectivity was assessed based on a predefined template which parcellated the brain into 90 regions. Altered whole-brain functional connectivity patterns were identified via connectivity comparisons between the AD and NC subjects. Finally, the relationship between functional connectivity strength and cognitive ability according to the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was evaluated in the MCI and AD groups. Compared with the NC group, the AD group exhibited decreased functional connectivities throughout the brain. The most significantly affected regions included several important nodes of the default mode network and the temporal lobe. Moreover, changes in functional connectivity strength exhibited significant associations with disease severity-related alterations in the AD and MCI groups. The present study provides novel evidence and will facilitate meta-analysis of whole-brain analyses in AD and MCI, which will be critical to better understand the neural basis of AD.

SUBMITTER: Zhou B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4475740 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Aberrant Functional Connectivity Architecture in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Whole-Brain, Data-Driven Analysis.

Zhou Bo B Yao Hongxiang H Wang Pan P Zhang Zengqiang Z Zhan Yafeng Y Ma Jianhua J Xu Kaibin K Wang Luning L An Ningyu N Liu Yong Y Zhang Xi X

BioMed research international 20150608

The purpose of our study was to investigate whether the whole-brain functional connectivity pattern exhibits disease severity-related alterations in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in 27 MCI subjects, 35 AD patients, and 27 age- and gender-matched subjects with normal cognition (NC). Interregional functional connectivity was assessed based on a predefined template which parcellated ...[more]

PMID: 26167487

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Project description:Objectives: Although it is widely observed that chronic insomnia disorder (CID) is associated with cognitive impairment, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this remain unclear. Prior neuroimaging studies have confirmed that a close correlation exists between functional connectivity and cognitive impairment. Based on this observation, in this study we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to study the relationship between whole brain functional connectivity and cognitive function in CID. Methods: We included 39 patients with CID and 28 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls (HC). Abnormalities in functional connectivity were identified by comparing the correlation coefficients for each pair of 116 brain regions between CID and HC. Results: Cognitive impairment was associated with reduced subjective insomnia scores after controlling for age, gender, and educational effects. Compared with HC, patients with CID had larger negative correlations within the task-negative network [medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), precuneus, inferior temporal gyrus, cerebellum, and superior parietal gyrus], and between two intrinsic anti-correlation networks (mPFC and middle temporal gyrus; supplementary motor area and cerebellum). Patients with CID also had decreased positive correlations within the default mode network (DMN), and between the cerebellum and DMN, which mainly comprises the mPFC and posterior cingulated cortex. There were positive correlations of decreased positive connectivity with subjective sleep scores and MMSE scores, and increased negative correlations between the task-negative-network and MMSE scores in CID. Conclusions: Using rs-fMRI, our results support previous observations of cortical disconnection in CID in the prefrontal and DMN networks. Moreover, abnormal correlations within the task-negative network, and between two intrinsically anti-correlation networks, might be important neurobiological indicators of CID and associated cognitive impairment.

Project description:BackgroundResting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using a regional homogeneity (ReHo) method have reported that amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) was associated with abnormalities in local functional connectivity. However, their results were not conclusive.MethodsSeed-based d Mapping was used to conduct a coordinate-based meta-analysis to identify consistent ReHo alterations in aMCI.ResultsWe identified 10 studies with 11 datasets suitable for inclusion, including 378 patients with aMCI and 435 healthy controls. This meta-analysis identified significant ReHo alterations in patients with aMCI relative to healthy controls, mainly within the default mode network (DMN) (bilateral posterior cingulate cortex [PCC], right angular gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyri, and left parahippocampal gyrus/hippocampus), executive control network (right superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), visual network (right lingual gyrus and left middle occipital gyrus), and sensorimotor network (right paracentral lobule/supplementary motor area, right postcentral gyrus and left posterior insula). Significant heterogeneity of ReHo alterations in the bilateral PCC, left parahippocampal gyrus/hippocampus, and right superior parietal lobule/angular gyrus was observed. Exploratory meta-regression analyses indicated that general cognitive function, gender distribution, age, and education level partially contributed to this heterogeneity.ConclusionsThis study provides provisional evidence that aMCI is associated with abnormal ReHo within the DMN, executive control network, visual network, and sensorimotor network. These local functional connectivity alterations suggest coexistence of functional deficits and compensation in these networks. These findings contribute to the modeling of brain functional connectomes and to a better understanding of the neural substrates of aMCI. Confounding factors merit much attention and warrant future investigations.

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Project description:A sensitive marker for monitoring progression of early Alzheimer's disease would help to develop and test new therapeutic strategies. The present study is aimed at investigating brain metabolism changes over time, as a potential monitoring marker, in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, according to their clinical outcome (converters or non-converters), and in relation to their cognitive decline. Seventeen amnestic mild cognitive impairment patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging and 18FDG-positron emission tomography scans both at inclusion and 18 months later. Baseline and follow-up positron emission tomography data were corrected for partial volume effects and spatially normalized using magnetic resonance imaging data, scaled to the vermis and compared using SPM2. 'PET-PAC' maps reflecting metabolic per cent annual changes were created for correlation analyses with cognitive decline. In the whole sample, the greatest metabolic decrease concerned the posterior cingulate-precuneus area. Converters had significantly greater metabolic decrease than non-converters in two ventro-medial prefrontal areas, the subgenual (BA25) and anterior cingulate (BA24/32). PET-PAC in BA25 and BA24/32 combined allowed complete between-group discrimination. BA25 PET-PAC significantly correlated with both cognitive decline and PET-PAC in the hippocampal region and temporal pole, while BA24/32 PET-PAC correlated with posterior cingulate PET-PAC. Finally, the metabolic change in BA8/9/10 was inversely related to that in BA25 and showed relative increase with cognitive decline, suggesting that compensatory processes may occur in this dorso-medial prefrontal region. The observed ventro-medial prefrontal disruption is likely to reflect disconnection from the hippocampus, both indirectly through the cingulum bundle and posterior cingulate cortex for BA24/32, and directly through the uncinate fasciculus for BA25. Altogether, our findings emphasize the potential of 18FDG-positron emission tomography for monitoring early Alzheimer's disease progression.

Dataset Information

Aberrant Functional Connectivity Architecture in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Whole-Brain, Data-Driven Analysis.

Publications

Aberrant Functional Connectivity Architecture in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Whole-Brain, Data-Driven Analysis.

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