PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
BACKGROUND: Cerebral specialization and interhemispheric cooperation are two vital features of the human brain. Their dysfunction may be associated with disease progression in patients with Alzheimer\'s disease (AD), which is featured as progressive cognitive degeneration and asymmetric neuropathology.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine and define two inherent properties of hemispheric function in patients with AD by utilizing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).
METHODS: Sixty-four clinically diagnosed AD patients and 52 age- and sex-matched cognitively normal subjects were recruited and underwent MRI and clinical evaluation. We calculated and compared brain specialization (autonomy index, AI) and interhemispheric cooperation (connectivity between functionally homotopic voxels, CFH).
RESULTS: In comparison to healthy controls, patients with AD exhibited enhanced AI in the left middle occipital gyrus. This increase in specialization can be attributed to reduced functional connectivity in the contralateral region, such as the right temporal lobe. The CFH of the bilateral precuneus and prefrontal areas was significantly decreased in AD patients compared to controls. Imaging-cognitive correlation analysis indicated that the CFH of the right prefrontal cortex was marginally positively related to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score in patients and the Auditory Verbal Learning Test score. Moreover, taking abnormal AI and CFH values as features, support vector machine-based classification achieved good accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve by leave-one-out cross-validation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with AD have abnormal cerebral specialization and interhemispheric cooperation. This provides new insights for further elucidation of the pathological mechanisms of AD.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine and define two inherent properties of hemispheric function in patients with AD by utilizing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).
METHODS: Sixty-four clinically diagnosed AD patients and 52 age- and sex-matched cognitively normal subjects were recruited and underwent MRI and clinical evaluation. We calculated and compared brain specialization (autonomy index, AI) and interhemispheric cooperation (connectivity between functionally homotopic voxels, CFH).
RESULTS: In comparison to healthy controls, patients with AD exhibited enhanced AI in the left middle occipital gyrus. This increase in specialization can be attributed to reduced functional connectivity in the contralateral region, such as the right temporal lobe. The CFH of the bilateral precuneus and prefrontal areas was significantly decreased in AD patients compared to controls. Imaging-cognitive correlation analysis indicated that the CFH of the right prefrontal cortex was marginally positively related to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score in patients and the Auditory Verbal Learning Test score. Moreover, taking abnormal AI and CFH values as features, support vector machine-based classification achieved good accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve by leave-one-out cross-validation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with AD have abnormal cerebral specialization and interhemispheric cooperation. This provides new insights for further elucidation of the pathological mechanisms of AD.
摘要：
背景：大脑专业化和半球间协作是人脑的两个重要特征。它们的功能障碍可能与阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者的疾病进展有关，其特征是进行性认知退化和不对称神经病理学。
目的：本研究旨在利用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）检查并确定AD患者半球功能的两个固有特性。
方法：招募64名临床诊断的AD患者和52名年龄和性别匹配的认知正常受试者，并进行MRI和临床评估。我们计算并比较了大脑专业化(自主性指数，AI)和半球间合作(功能同位体素之间的连通性，CFH）。
结果：与健康对照相比，AD患者左侧枕中回AI增强。这种专业化的增加可以归因于对侧区域的功能连通性降低，比如右颞叶。与对照组相比，AD患者的双侧前肌和前额叶区域的CFH显着降低。影像学-认知相关分析表明，右前额叶皮层的CFH与患者的蒙特利尔认知评估评分和听觉言语学习测验评分呈正相关。此外，以异常的AI和CFH值作为特征，基于支持向量机的分类取得了较好的准确率,灵敏度,特异性，和曲线下的面积通过留一交叉验证。
结论：这项研究表明，患有AD的个体具有异常的大脑专业化和半球间合作。这为进一步阐明AD的病理机制提供了新的见解。
目的：本研究旨在利用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）检查并确定AD患者半球功能的两个固有特性。
方法：招募64名临床诊断的AD患者和52名年龄和性别匹配的认知正常受试者，并进行MRI和临床评估。我们计算并比较了大脑专业化(自主性指数，AI)和半球间合作(功能同位体素之间的连通性，CFH）。
结果：与健康对照相比，AD患者左侧枕中回AI增强。这种专业化的增加可以归因于对侧区域的功能连通性降低，比如右颞叶。与对照组相比，AD患者的双侧前肌和前额叶区域的CFH显着降低。影像学-认知相关分析表明，右前额叶皮层的CFH与患者的蒙特利尔认知评估评分和听觉言语学习测验评分呈正相关。此外，以异常的AI和CFH值作为特征，基于支持向量机的分类取得了较好的准确率,灵敏度,特异性，和曲线下的面积通过留一交叉验证。
结论：这项研究表明，患有AD的个体具有异常的大脑专业化和半球间合作。这为进一步阐明AD的病理机制提供了新的见解。
