Aberrant Brain Entropy in Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence From a Resting-State fMRI Study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Biomarkers

Background:

• Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder impacting memory, language, and executive functions.
• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is crucial for studying neurological disorders.
• Brain entropy (BEN) quantifies functional brain activity complexity from rs-fMRI data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the spatial distribution of brain entropy (BEN) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
• To identify functional complexity alterations in AD using BEN technology.

Main Methods:

• Included 30 AD patients and 46 healthy controls.
• Acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and conducted neuropsychological assessments.
• Analyzed voxel-level BEN maps for intergroup differences and correlated BEN with cognitive scores.

Main Results:

• Significantly decreased BEN observed in the right superior temporal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and left posterior parietal gyrus in AD patients.
• BEN reductions correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores.
• Abnormal BEN trends noted in the precuneus, cuneus, and left frontotemporal pole.

Conclusions:

• Widespread BEN reduction in AD brains aligns with cognitive decline in language, memory, and integration.
• BEN shows potential as a sensitive, noninvasive imaging biomarker for AD screening and monitoring.