Preclinical brain network abnormalities in patients with subjective cognitive decline

Serra, Laura, Bonarota, Sabrina, Di Domenico, Carlotta, Caruso, Giulia, Giulietti, Giovanni, Caltagirone, Carlo, Cercignani, Mara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4550-2456 and Bozzali, Marco 2023. Preclinical brain network abnormalities in patients with subjective cognitive decline. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 95 (3) , pp. 1119-1131. 10.3233/JAD-230536

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide. Currently there are no disease modifying treatments available. Detecting subjects with increased risk to develop dementia is essential for future clinical trials. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a condition defining individuals who perceive a decrease in their own cognitive functioning in the absence of any detectable deficit on neuropsychological testing. SCD individuals show AD-related biomarkers abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid. Objective:The aim of the present study was to assess brain functional connectivity (FC) changes in SCD individuals. Methods:23 SCD and 33 healthy subjects (HS) underwent an extensive neuropsychological assessment and 3T-MRI scanning including a T1-w volume and resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) to assess brain atrophy and brain FC. Results:No between-group differences in grey matter volumes were detected. SCD subjects compared to HS showed both increased and decreased FC in the executive and parietal networks. Associations between cognitive measures, mainly assessing working memory, and FC within brain networks were found both in SCD and HS separately. Conclusions:SCD individuals showed FC abnormalities in networks involving fronto-parietal areas that may account for their lower visuo-spatial working memory performances. Dysfunctions in executive-frontal networks may be responsible for the cognitive decline subjectively experienced by SCD individuals despite the normal scores observed by formal neuropsychological assessment. The present study contributes to consider SCD individuals in an early AD stage with an increased risk of developing the disease in the long term.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)
Publisher:	IOS Press
ISSN:	1387-2877
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 October 2023
Date of Acceptance:	17 July 2023
Last Modified:	13 Nov 2024 22:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163531

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