Functional connectivity and graph theory in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a long preclinical phase in which amyloid and tau cerebral pathology accumulate without producing cognitive symptoms. Resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging has demonstrated that brain networks degrade during symptomatic AD. It is unclear to what extent these degradations exist before symptomatic onset. In this study, we investigated graph theory metrics of functional integration (path length), functional segregation (clustering coefficient), and functional distinctness (modularity) as a function of disease severity. Further, we assessed whether these graph metrics were affected in cognitively normal participants with cerebrospinal fluid evidence of preclinical AD. Clustering coefficient and modularity, but not path length, were reduce

SUBMITTER: Brier MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3880636 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature