title: Aberrant intra- and inter-network connectivity architectures in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and those with high-risk mild cognitive impairment are increasingly considered to have dysfunction syndromes. Large-scale network studies based on neuroimaging techniques may provide additional insight into AD pathophysiology. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the impaired network functional connectivity with the disease progression. For this purpose, we explored altered functional connectivities based on previously well-defined brain areas that comprise the five key functional systems [the default mode network (DMN), dorsal attention network (DAN), control network (CON), salience network (SAL), sensorimotor network (SMN)] in 35 with AD and 27 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects, compared with 27 normal cognitive subjects. Based on three levels of analysis, we found that intra- and inter-network connectivity were impaired in AD. Importantly, the interaction between the sensorimotor and attention functions was first attacked at the MCI stage and then extended to the key functional systems in the AD individuals. Lower cognitive ability (lower MMSE scores) was significantly associated with greater reductions in intra- and inter-network connectivity across all patient groups. These profiles indicate that aberrant intra- and inter-network dysfunctions might be potential biomarkers or predictors of AD progression and provide new insight into AD pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.|Department of Neurology, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
authors.forename: Hongxiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
authors.forename: Yafeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.|Hainan Branch of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Sanya, 572014, China.
authors.forename: Zengqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
authors.forename: Kaibin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
authors.forename: Luning
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
authors.forename: Ningyu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Tianzi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*