Abstract
Using resting state (RS) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the connectivity patterns of the default mode (DMN), frontoparietal, executive, and salience networks were explored in 13 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, 12 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients, and 13 healthy controls. Compared with controls and aMCI, AD was associated with opposing connectivity effects in the DMN (decreased) and frontal networks (enhanced). The only RS abnormality found in aMCI patients compared with controls was a precuneus connectivity reduction in the DMN. RS fMRI group differences were only partly related to gray matter atrophy. In AD patients, the mean executive network connectivity was positively associated with frontal-executive and language neuropsychological scores. These results suggest that AD is associated with an alteration of large-scale functional brain networks, which extends well beyond the DMN. In AD, the limited resources of the DMN may be paralleled, in an attempt to maintain cognitive efficiency, by an increased prefrontal connectivity. A medial parietal RS fMRI signal change seems to be present since the early phase of AD.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1564-1578 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Neurobiology of Aging |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2012 |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Functional MRI (fMRI)
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Resting state fMRI
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neuroscience(all)
- Ageing
- Developmental Biology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology