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P4‐107: fMRI Context‐dependent connectivity in Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
McLaren Donald,
Sperling Reisa,
Atri Alireza
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.05.2128
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , posterior cingulate , neuroscience , functional magnetic resonance imaging , middle temporal gyrus , psychology , temporal lobe , episodic memory , retrosplenial cortex , middle frontal gyrus , frontal lobe , hippocampus , cognition , biology , epilepsy , paleontology
documented. Not only does amyloid pathology accumulate in the distribution of this network in AD, there is evidence from resting state fMRI studies of disrupted functional connectivity within this network, evidence from structural MRI morphometric studies of atrophy in network regions, and evidence that integrity of the network is crucial for functions such as episodic memory that are lost early in the course of the illness. But should AD be viewed strictly as a disorder of the DMN, or are other large-scale functional networks implicated in the illness?Methods:We addressed this question by examining the topographic overlap between cortical regions that are consistently atrophic in AD patients and large-scale functional-anatomic networks defined by meta-analysis of the functional neuroimaging literature and covariance of BOLD signal in resting state fMRI data (Smith et al., PNAS, 2009). Results: As expected, there was overlap between regions of cortical thinning in AD and nodes of the DMN. In addition, cortical thinning was observed in nodes of resting-state networks thought to subserve executive control, visual attention, and language. Conclusions: The findings suggest that Alzheimer disease should best be considered a multi-network disease, as implied by the clinical diagnostic criteria.