Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
Department of Computer Science, Otto-von-Guericke University, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 9;7:40252. doi: 10.1038/srep40252.
Recent studies suggest that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) lie on a single clinical continuum. However, previous neuroimaging studies have found only limited involvement of temporal lobe regions in ALS. To better delineate possible temporal lobe involvement in ALS, the present study aimed to examine changes in functional connectivity across the whole brain, particularly with regard to extra-motor regions, in a group of 64 non-demented ALS patients and 38 healthy controls. To assess between-group differences in connectivity, we computed edge-level statistics across subject-specific graphs derived from resting-state functional MRI data. In addition to expected ALS-related decreases in functional connectivity in motor-related areas, we observed extensive changes in connectivity across the temporo-occipital cortex. Although ALS patients with comorbid FTD were deliberately excluded from this study, the pattern of connectivity alterations closely resembles patterns of cerebral degeneration typically seen in FTD. This evidence for subclinical temporal dysfunction supports the idea of a common pathology in ALS and FTD.
最近的研究表明，肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）和额颞叶痴呆（FTD）位于单一的临床连续体上。然而，以前的神经影像学研究仅发现 ALS 患者的颞叶区域有有限的参与。为了更好地描绘 ALS 中可能存在的颞叶受累情况，本研究旨在检查一组 64 名非痴呆 ALS 患者和 38 名健康对照者的全脑功能连接的变化，特别是与运动区外区域的功能连接变化。为了评估组间连接的差异，我们在基于静息状态功能磁共振成像数据的个体特定图上计算了边缘水平的统计数据。除了在与运动相关的区域中观察到与 ALS 相关的功能连接减少外，我们还观察到在颞枕叶皮层中存在广泛的连接变化。尽管这项研究故意排除了伴有 FTD 的 ALS 患者，但连接改变的模式与 FTD 中通常观察到的大脑退化模式非常相似。这种亚临床颞叶功能障碍的证据支持 ALS 和 FTD 存在共同病理的观点。
