title: Widespread temporo-occipital lobe dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) lie on a single clinical continuum. However, previous neuroimaging studies have found only limited involvement of temporal lobe regions in ALS. To better delineate possible temporal lobe involvement in ALS, the present study aimed to examine changes in functional connectivity across the whole brain, particularly with regard to extra-motor regions, in a group of 64 non-demented ALS patients and 38 healthy controls. To assess between-group differences in connectivity, we computed edge-level statistics across subject-specific graphs derived from resting-state functional MRI data. In addition to expected ALS-related decreases in functional connectivity in motor-related areas, we observed extensive changes in connectivity across the temporo-occipital cortex. Although ALS patients with comorbid FTD were deliberately excluded from this study, the pattern of connectivity alterations closely resembles patterns of cerebral degeneration typically seen in FTD. This evidence for subclinical temporal dysfunction supports the idea of a common pathology in ALS and FTD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|Department of Computer Science, Otto-von-Guericke University, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Loewe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Machts
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petri
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestraße 6, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Jochen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Otto-von-Guericke University, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borgelt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Joseph Allen
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vielhaber
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.|Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestraße 6, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany.|Kliniken Schmieder Heidelberg, Speyererhofweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Mircea Ariel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schoenfeld
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*