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Updated: Sep 14, 2025
Author Spotlight: Stimulation-Based Approach to Improve Cerebral Blood Flow in Alzheimer's Model
Published on: June 2, 2023
Dysregulation of cerebral perfusion dynamics is associated with Alzheimer's disease
Vasilis Marmarelis1, Sandy Billinger2,3, Elizabeth Joe4
1Biomedical Enginering Department University of Southern California Los Angeles California USA.
Introduction:
A novel physio-marker, termed "cerebrovascular dynamics index" (CDI), was developed and evaluated in a multi-center National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study for improved diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its transition to Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Methods:
The CDI quantifies the regulation dynamics of cerebral perfusion and oxygenation (which adjust autonomously blood flow and oxygen delivery over time) through predictive dynamic modeling using relevant time-series data.
Results:
Cross-sectional results demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance of CDI in differentiating 90 MCI/AD patients from 77 controls (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.96), which surpassed the commonly used biomarker of amyloid positron emission tomography-standardized uptake value ratio (PET-SUVR) (AUC = 0.78) or cognitive screening tests of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (AUC = 0.91 and 0.92, respectively). The CDI can also be used for disease staging because it differentiated 56 MCI from 34 mild AD participants (AUC = 0.98).
Conclusion:
These findings offer the promise of a high-performance diagnostic physio-marker for MCI and AD, which can be obtained in a comfortable, rapid, and automated manner in clinical settings.
Highlights:
Novel physio-marker (cerebrovascular dynamics index [CDI]) quantifies the regulation dynamics of cerebral perfusion.The CDI was shown to improve mild cognitive impairment/Alzheimer's disease (MCI/AD) diagnosis (area under the curve [AUC] >0.95) relative to existing markers.The CDI is obtained non-invasively, objectively, rapidly, and inexpensively.The CDI performance supports the key role of cerebrovascular dysfunction in AD.The CDI is obtained via dynamic modeling of hemodynamic/oxygenation time-series data.
