Mapping the Altered Patterns of Cerebellar Resting-State Function in Longitudinal Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bai, Feng^{a; b} | Liao, Wei^c | Watson, David R.^d | Shi, Yongmei^b | Yuan, Yonggui^b | Cohen, Alexander D.^e | Xie, Chunming^{a; b; e} | Wang, Yi^a | Yue, Chunxian^a | Teng, Yuhuan^a | Wu, Di^a | Jia, Jianping^{f; *} | Zhang, Zhijun^{a; b; *}

Affiliations: [a] School of Clinical Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China | [b] Department of Neurology, affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University, and The Institute of Neuropsychiatry of Southeast University, Nanjing, China | [c] Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China | [d] Computational Neuroscience, University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Derry, Northern Ireland, UK | [e] Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA | [f] Department of Neurology, XuanWu Hospital, The Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Zhijun Zhang, Department of Neurology, affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University, and The Institute of Neuropsychiatry of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. Tel.: +0086 25 83272023; Fax: +0086 25 83272023; E-mail: zhijunzhang838@yahoo.com.cn Jianping Jia, Neurology Department, XuanWu Hospital, The Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. Tel.: +0086 10 83198730; Fax: +0086 10 83171070; Email: jiaxuanwu@126.com.

Abstract: The cerebellum is known to be a relatively well preserved structure, but subtle alterations may occur early in the evolution of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients appear to be particularly vulnerable to AD. However, little is currently known whether altered patterns of cerebellar function occur in aMCI patients. 26 aMCI patients and 18 well-matched healthy controls underwent a baseline resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. After a mean follow-up period of 20 months, the subjects who successfully completed baseline fMRI scans underwent a further follow-up scan, while spontaneous activation and functional connectivity of the cerebellum were explored by using resting-state fMRI. Compared to controls, increased amplitude of low frequency fluctuation of the posterior cerebellar lobe may contribute to the underlying mechanisms affected, while greater decreased functional connections to the posterior cerebellar lobe were identified in the longitudinal study of aMCI patients. This suggests that abnormal functional connectivity of the cerebellum may offer a more sensitive and possibly preferred index of functional disturbance than regional activity measures in aMCI patients. The cerebellum may be partly related to the underlying mechanisms of aMCI, and it could help guide subsequent investigations designed to specify the precise functional role of cerebellum in aMCI patients.

Keywords: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment, cerebellum, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional connectivity, longitudinal

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2010-101533

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 87-99, 2011