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Application of Granger Causality Analysis of the Directed Functional Connection in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: August 7, 2017
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Coupling analysis between functional and structural brain networks in Alzheimer's disease
Xia Xu1,2, Song Xu1,2, Liting Han1,2
1College of Medical Imaging, Jiading District Central Hospital affiliated Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai 201318, China.
Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering : MBE
|August 9, 2022
Summary
Alzheimer's disease (AD) impacts brain network coupling. Functional and structural connectivity alterations correlate with cognitive decline, offering insights into AD's mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Medical Imaging
- Neurology
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) presents complex gray and white matter changes, complicating the understanding of functional and structural brain network coupling.
- Clarifying these network interactions is crucial for diagnosing and understanding AD progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between functional connectivity (rsfMRI-FC) and structural connectivity (DTI-SC) in normal controls (NC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD groups.
- To explore the association between brain network coupling and key neuropsychological scores.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 112 participants (62 NC, 31 MCI, 19 AD).
- Constructed rsfMRI-FC and DTI-SC brain networks.
- Analyzed correlations using Pearson's and partial correlation analyses with Bonferroni correction.
Main Results:
- Significant correlation found between rsfMRI-FC and DTI-SC (p < 0.05).
- Coupling of rsfMRI-FC/DTI-SC negatively correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores (p < 0.05).
- Coupling positively correlated with Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) and Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) scores (p < 0.05), but not Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores (p > 0.05).
Conclusions:
- Functional and structural brain network coupling exists and shows varied characteristics between rsfMRI and DTI.
- These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease.
