Mapping Neurodegenerative Disease Onset and Progression.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neuropathology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Brain networks are crucial for understanding neurodegenerative diseases like prion diseases, which spread via neural pathways.
• Traditional neuropathological studies, while informative, have limitations in studying in vivo, physiological, and longitudinal aspects of disease progression.
• Existing tools for human brain network mapping have been inadequate for clinical research applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the limitations of traditional methods in mapping human brain networks in neurodegenerative diseases.
• To explore the potential of emerging in vivo neuroimaging strategies for understanding disease anatomy and pathogenesis.
• To provide a roadmap for future research by highlighting key principles and unanswered questions in neurodegeneration.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of findings from neuropathological studies.
• Integration of emerging in vivo network-based neuroimaging strategies.
• Analysis of data complementing traditional autopsy-based approaches.

Main Results:

• In vivo neuroimaging offers complementary data to neuropathological studies.
• Emerging strategies are beginning to address limitations in understanding human brain network architecture.
• Current findings reveal fundamental principles and persistent mysteries in neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis.

Conclusions:

• Network-based neuroimaging is crucial for advancing the study of neurodegenerative diseases.
• The integration of in vivo and postmortem data provides a more comprehensive understanding.
• Further research is needed to unravel the complexities of brain network involvement in neurodegeneration.