Frequency-Dependent Changes in the Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Mild Cognitive Impairment with Mild Depression

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Li, Yuxia^{a; b; 1} | Jing, Bin^{c; 1} | Liu, Han^c | Li, Yifan^d | Gao, Xuan^b | Li, Yongqiu^b | Mu, Bin^a | Yu, Haikuo^e | Cheng, Jinbo^f | Barker, Peter B.^g | Wang, Hongxing^{a; *} | Han, Ying^{a; h; i; j; k; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Xuan Wu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [b] Department of Neurology, Tangshan Gongren Hospital, Tangshan, Hebei Province, China | [c] School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [d] XiangYa School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China | [e] Department of Rehabilitation, XuanWu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [f] The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China | [g] Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA | [h] Center of Alzheimer’s Disease, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China | [i] National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Beijing, China | [j] PKU Care Rehabilitation Hospital, Beijing, China | [k] Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Prof. Ying Han and Prof. Hongxing Wang, Department of Neurology, XuanWu Hospital of Capital Medical University, No. 45, Changchun Street, Xichengdistrict, Beijing 100053, China. Tel.: +86 13621011941; E-mails: hanying@xwh.ccmu.edu.cn (Y. Han) and wanghongxing@xwh.ccmu.edu.cn (H. Wang).

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Background: Depression is a potential marker of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, little is known about the abnormal characteristics revealed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects with depressive symptoms (MCI-d). Objective: The study was to examine whether abnormalities in amplitudes of low-frequency oscillation occurred in MCI-d and tried to find the possible spectrum showed higher recognition ability to the diagnosis by utilizing functional MRI (fMRI). Methods: The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) within full frequency (0.01–0.1 Hz), slow-5 (0.01–0.027 Hz), and slow-4 (0.027–0.073 Hz) were computed using resting-state fMRI data of 27 MCI without depressive symptoms, 19 MCI-d, and 32 well-matched healthy controls (HC). Analysis of covariance was performed on ALFF and fALFF among MCI, MCI-d, and HC groups. Results: Several brain regions showed significant differences in ALFF and fALFF within full frequency, slow-5, and slow-4 bands among three groups. Importantly, receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the ALFF values in the full frequency band in the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left precuneus, Slow 5 value in ALFF in the left inferior frontal gyrus, and Slow 4 value in ALFF in the left precuneus could effectively differentiate MCI-d from MCI patients. Conclusion: In this study, we found that several changes in special brain regions are associated with MCI and MCI-d patients. And the differences depend on the studied frequency bands of rs-fMRI data. The affective network and the default-mode network might be damaged simultaneously in MCI-d patients.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, depression, magnetic resonance imaging, mild cognitive impairment

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-161282

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 1175-1187, 2017