Convergent Multimodal Imaging Abnormalities in the Dorsal Precuneus in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Li, Xuan-Yu^{a; f; 1} | Yuan, Li-Xia^{b; g; h; 1} | Ding, Chang-Chang^c | Guo, Teng-Fei^d | Du, Wen-Ying^a | Jiang, Jie-Hui^c | Jessen, Frank^e | Zang, Yu-Feng^{b; g; h; *} | Han, Ying^{a; d; i; j; k; l; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, XuanWu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [b] Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China | [c] Department of Shanghai Institute for Advanced Communication and Data Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China | [d] Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China | [e] Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany | [f] Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [g] Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China | [h] Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China | [i] School of Biomedical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou, China | [j] Center of Alzheimer’s Disease, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China | [k] National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Beijing, China | [l] The Central Hospital of Karamay, Xinjiang, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Ying Han, Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, 100053. Tel.:+86 13621011941; E-mail: hanying@xwh.ccmu.edu.cn and Yu-Feng Zang, Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China, 310015. Tel.:+86 18606517380; E-mail: zangyf@hznu.edu.cn.

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

Abstract: Background:A range of imaging modalities have reported Alzheimer’s disease-related abnormalities in individuals experiencing subjective cognitive decline (SCD). However, there has been no consistent local abnormality identified across multiple neuroimaging modalities for SCD. Objective:We aimed to investigate the convergent local alterations in amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition, glucose metabolism, and resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) metrics in SCD. Methods:Fifty SCD patients (66.4±5.7 years old, 19 men [38%]) and 15 normal controls (NC) (66.3±4.4 years old, 5 men [33.3%]) were scanned with both [18F]-florbetapir PET and [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, as well as simultaneous RS-fMRI from February 2018 to November 2018. Voxel-wise metrics were retrospectively analyzed, including Aβ deposition, glucose metabolism, amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality(DC). Results:The SCD group showed increased Aβ deposition and glucose metabolism (p < 0.05, corrected), as well as decreased ALFF, ReHo, and DC (p < 0.05, uncorrected) in the left dorsal precuneus (dPCu). Furthermore, the dPCu illustrated negative resting-state functional connectivity with the default mode network. Regarding global Aβ deposition positivity, the Aβ deposition in the left dPCu showed a gradient change, i.e., Aβ positive SCD > Aβ negative SCD > Aβ negative NC. Additionally, both Aβ positive SCD and Aβ negative SCD showed increased glucose metabolism and decreased RS-fMRI metrics in the dPCu. Conclusions:The dorsal precuneus, an area implicated in early AD, shows convergent neuroimaging alterations in SCD, and might be more related to other cognitive functions (e.g., unfocused attention) than episodic memory.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, precuneus, subjective cognitive decline

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-231360

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 589-601, 2024