Functional connectivity in default mode network as a predictor of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's Disease spectrum: a longitudinal study

• Grant number: 17/27231-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2018
• End date: May 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Marcio Luiz Figueredo Balthazar
• Grantee: Bernardo Leite Pondé da Luz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementia worldwide. The pathology slowly causes complex alterations on the brain in chemical, anatomic and connectivity level, which results in cognitive and neuropsychiatric dysfunctions that compromise daily lifeactivity.AD has a wide pre-clinical phase and a previous stage to the dementia called mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which one of the subtypes is called amnestic MCI (aMCI) and it is more related to AD. Individual with MCI still has preserved their functional independency. A recent concept of AD is that it is a dysfunction on connectivity in neural networks. The most relevant network in AD is the Default Mode Network (DMN), which has lower metabolism activity when executing tasks that demands external attention from the individual. Research on neural network connectivity function in AD is recent, and there still a need for more studies on the correlation between pathologic alterations and the disease natural history, especiallylongitudinal studies which can provide a better understanding of the disease's natural history. It is likely that functional connectivity in DMN can help in the understanding of how cognitive decline will happen in patients with AD or previous stages. This longitudinal study has as objective the use of Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (RS-FMRi) as a method to evaluate neural network function on DMN in resting state and connect it with the intensity of cognitive decline in patients with MCI, AD, with MCI that turned to AD and controls