Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
Published on: October 13, 2023
Virtual brain simulations reveal network-specific parameters in neurodegenerative dementias
Anita Monteverdi1, Fulvia Palesi2, Michael Schirner3,4,5,6,7
1Unit of Digital Neuroscience, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
Introduction:
Neural circuit alterations lay at the core of brain physiopathology, and yet are hard to unveil in living subjects. The Virtual Brain (TVB) modeling, by exploiting structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), yields mesoscopic parameters of connectivity and synaptic transmission.
Methods:
We used TVB to simulate brain networks, which are key for human brain function, in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients, whose connectivity and synaptic parameters remain largely unknown; we then compared them to healthy controls, to reveal novel in vivo pathological hallmarks.
Results:
The pattern of simulated parameter differed between AD and FTD, shedding light on disease-specific alterations in brain networks. Individual subjects displayed subtle differences in network parameter patterns that significantly correlated with their individual neuropsychological, clinical, and pharmacological profiles.
Discussion:
These TVB simulations, by informing about a new personalized set of networks parameters, open new perspectives for understanding dementias mechanisms and design personalized therapeutic approaches.
