Cortical functional connectivity changes in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, marked by memory deficits.
• Understanding large-scale network dysfunction in aMCI is crucial for early diagnosis and intervention.
• Resting-state functional connectivity analysis offers insights into brain network alterations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in resting-state functional connectivity between individuals with aMCI and healthy controls (HC).
• To identify specific brain regions and networks affected in the prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease.

Main Methods:

• Utilized MRI and clinical data from 25 aMCI patients and 25 HC.
• Performed seed-to-seed functional connectivity analyses across all Brodmann areas using the CONN toolkit.
• Applied False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction with a significance threshold of pFDR-corr < 0.05.

Main Results:

• The aMCI group exhibited decreased functional connectivity between Brodmann area 7 (precuneus) and bilateral Brodmann areas 33 and 32 (anterior cingulate cortex).
• These connectivity reductions were positively correlated with the severity of memory decline in the aMCI group.

Conclusions:

• Connectivity between the precuneus (BA7) and anterior cingulate cortex (BA32-33) is impaired in the prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease.
• Functional connectivity analysis using histological atlases can aid in monitoring dementia progression.