Open AccessAltered functional connectivity in early Alzheimer's disease: A resting‐state fMRI study
Author(s) -
Wang Kun,
Liang Meng,
Wang Liang,
Tian Lixia,
Zhang Xinqing,
Li Kuncheng,
Jiang Tianzi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.20324
Subject(s) - resting state fmri , neuroscience , parietal lobe , functional magnetic resonance imaging , psychology , occipital lobe , temporal lobe , correlation , functional connectivity , frontal lobe , prefrontal cortex , disconnection , brain mapping , cognition , geometry , mathematics , political science , law , epilepsy
Previous studies have led to the proposal that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) may have disturbed functional connectivity between different brain regions. Furthermore, recent resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have also shown that low‐frequency (<0.08 Hz) fluctuations (LFF) of the blood oxygenation level‐dependent signals were abnormal in several brain areas of AD patients. However, few studies have investigated disturbed LFF connectivity in AD patients. By using resting‐state fMRI, this study sought to investigate the abnormal functional connectivities throughout the entire brain of early AD patients, and analyze the global distribution of these abnormalities. For this purpose, the authors divided the whole brain into 116 regions and identified abnormal connectivities by comparing the correlation coefficients of each pair. Compared with healthy controls, AD patients had decreased positive correlations between the prefrontal and parietal lobes, but increased positive correlations within the prefrontal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe. The AD patients also had decreased negative correlations (closer to zero) between two intrinsically anti‐correlated networks that had previously been found in the resting brain. By using resting‐state fMRI, our results supported previous studies that have reported an anterior–posterior disconnection phenomenon and increased within‐lobe functional connectivity in AD patients. In addition, the results also suggest that AD may disturb the correlation/anti‐correlation effect in the two intrinsically anti‐correlated networks. Hum Brain Mapp 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.