Home › Research › Brain scans and imaging
Diffusion tensor tractography reveals abnormal topological organization in structural cortical networks in Alzheimer's disease
Lo CY, Wang PN, Chou KH, Wang J, He Y, Lin CP.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2010-12-01
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Recent research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) has shown that the decline of cognitive and memory functions is accompanied by a disrupted neuronal connectivity characterized by white matter (WM) degeneration. However, changes in the topological organization of WM structural network in AD remain largely unknown. Here, we used diffusion tensor image tractography to construct the human brain WM networks of 25 AD patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, followed by a graph theoretical analysis. We found that both AD patients and controls had a small-world topology in WM network, suggesting an optimal balance between structurally segregated and integrative organization. More important, the AD patients exhibited increased shortest path length and decreased global efficiency in WM network compared with controls, implying abnormal topological organization. Furthermore, we showed that the WM network contained highly connected hub regions that were predominately located in the precuneus, cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which was consistent with the previous diffusion-MRI studies. Specifically, AD patients were found to have reduced nodal efficiency predominantly located in the frontal regions. Finally, we showed that the alterations of various network properties were significantly correlated with the behavior performances. Together, the present study demonstrated for the first time that the Alzheimer's brain was associated with disrupted topological organization in the large-scale WM structural networks, thus providing the structural evidence for abnormalities of systematic integrity in this disease. This work could also have implications for understanding how the abnormalities of structural connectivity in AD underlie behavioral deficits in the patients.
Key findings
- Recent research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) has shown that the decline of cognitive and memory functions is accompanied by a disrupted neuronal connectivity characterized by white matter (WM) degeneration.
- We found that both AD patients and controls had a small-world topology in WM network, suggesting an optimal balance between structurally segregated and integrative organization.
- More important, the AD patients exhibited increased shortest path length and decreased global efficiency in WM network compared with controls, implying abnormal topological organization.
- Furthermore, we showed that the WM network contained highly connected hub regions that were predominately located in the precuneus, cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which was consistent with the previous diffusion-MRI studies.
- Finally, we showed that the alterations of various network properties were significantly correlated with the behavior performances.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Brain scans & tests →
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2010 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 21159959) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Lo, C. Y., Wang, P. N., Chou, K. H., Wang, J., He, Y., & Lin, C. P. (2010). Diffusion tensor tractography reveals abnormal topological organization in structural cortical networks in Alzheimer's disease. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4136-10.2010
Vancouver
Lo CY, Wang PN, Chou KH, Wang J, He Y, Lin CP. Diffusion tensor tractography reveals abnormal topological organization in structural cortical networks in Alzheimer's disease. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2010. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4136-10.2010. PMID: 21159959.
BibTeX
@article{lo2010-21159959,
author = {Lo, C. Y. and Wang, P. N. and Chou, K. H. and Wang, J. and He, Y. and Lin, C. P.},
title = {{Diffusion tensor tractography reveals abnormal topological organization in structural cortical networks in Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1523/jneurosci.4136-10.2010},
pmid = {21159959},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4136-10.2010}
}
Related studies in Brain scans and imaging
Also tagged “connectivity”
187 studies in the library carry the topic tag “connectivity”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 187 tagged studies.