Network based analysis of cognitive related resting state networks in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is accompanied by a widespread disruption of neural pathways. This in turn leads to alterations in functional brain networks and a progressive decline in cognitive functions. Despite the success of previous studies in detecting topological alterations in the AD brain, few studies have investigated networks that are related to decline of different cognitive functions in AD, with regard to disconnections and compensatory mechanisms. In this study, we adopted network based statistics (NBS) and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in order to find alterations in the functional network and explore networks that are correlated to decline in four cognitive domains. To this end, NBS was applied to the rs-fMRI data and four Montreal cognitive assessment sub-scores of 30 AD patients and 34 healthy subjects. Our results suggest the loss of connections between regions of frontal lobe and two other lobes of temporal and parietal. Moreover, cognitive deficits are in line with changes in the resting state network such as thinning effect and disconnection.