Abnormal dynamic functional connectivity in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormalities in functional connectivity (FC) of AD under the assumption that FC is stationary during scanning. However, studies on the FC dynamics of AD, which may provide more insightful perspectives in understanding the neural mechanisms of AD, remain largely unknown.

Combining the sliding-window approach and the k-means algorithm, we identified three reoccurring dynamic FC states from resting-state fMRI data of 26 AD and 26 healthy controls. The between-group differences both in FC states and in regional temporal variability were calculated, followed by a correlation analysis of these differences with cognitive performances of AD patients.

We identified three reoccurring FC states and found abnormal FC mainly in the frontal and temporal cortices. The temporal properties of FC states were changed in AD as characterized by decreased dwell time in State I and increased dwell time in State II. Besides, we found decreased regional temporal variability mainly in the somatomotor, temporal and parietal regions. Disrupted dynamic FC was significantly correlated with cognitive performances of AD patients.

Our findings suggest abnormal dynamic FC in AD patients, which provides novel insights for understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of AD.