Brain network analysis in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment using high-density diffuse optical...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cognitive Neurology

Background:

• Dementia is linked to changes in resting-state brain connectivity.
• Early detection and monitoring of dementia are crucial.
• High-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) offers practical advantages for large-scale brain imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate prefrontal cortex resting-state functional connectivity in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using HD-DOT.
• To characterize global and local network patterns in these populations.
• To assess HD-DOT's potential for dementia research and clinical application.

Main Methods:

• Utilized high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) to measure resting-state functional connectivity.
• Included participants with MCI (n=22), AD (n=21), and healthy controls (n=22).
• Applied graph theoretical analysis to prefrontal cortex networks over a 5-minute resting period.

Main Results:

• Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) showed denser, stronger prefrontal networks with shorter path lengths compared to controls.
• Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibited normalized but less stable network hubs and fragmented organization.
• HD-DOT successfully detected differences in network connectivity between healthy aging, MCI, and AD.

Conclusions:

• Altered prefrontal connectivity patterns using HD-DOT can distinguish between healthy aging, MCI, and AD.
• Early MCI may involve compensatory network recruitment, leading to fragmentation in later AD stages.
• HD-DOT shows promise for scalable neuroimaging in dementia research and clinical settings.