title: Resting state cortical electroencephalographic rhythms in covert hepatic encephalopathy and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Patients suffering from prodromal (i.e., amnestic mild cognitive impairment, aMCI) and overt Alzheimer's disease (AD) show abnormal cortical sources of resting state electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms. Here we tested the hypothesis that these sources show extensive abnormalities in liver cirrhosis (LC) patients with a cognitive impairment due to covert and diffuse hepatic encephalopathy (CHE). EEG activity was recorded in 64 LC (including 21 CHE), 21 aMCI, 21 AD, and 21 cognitively intact (Nold) subjects. EEG rhythms of interest were delta (2-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha 1 (8-10.5 Hz), alpha 2 (10.5-13 Hz), beta 1 (13-20 Hz), and beta 2 (20-30 Hz). EEG cortical sources were estimated by LORETA. Widespread sources of theta (all but frontal), alpha 1 (all but occipital), and alpha 2 (parietal, temporal) rhythms were higher in amplitude in all LC patients than in the Nold subjects. In these LC patients, the activity of central, parietal, and temporal theta sources correlated negatively, and parietal and temporal alpha 2 sources correlated positively with an index of global cognitive status. Finally, widespread theta (all but frontal) and alpha 1 (all but occipital) sources showed higher activity in the sub-group of LC patients with CHE than in the patients with aMCI or AD. These results unveiled the larger spatial-frequency abnormalities of the resting state EEG sources in the CHE compared to the AD condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Rome Sapienza, Rome, Italy IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy. claudio.babiloni@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Babiloni
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vecchio
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Percio
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montagnese
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schiff
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lizio
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chini
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Serviddio
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marzano
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soricelli
authors.forename: Giovanni B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
authors.forename: Paolo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amodio
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*