Dipasquale O, Cercignani Mara
Funct Neurol. 2016 Oct/Dec;31(4):191-203. doi: 10.11138/fneur/2016.31.4.191.
Non-invasive mapping of brain functional connectivity (FC) has played a fundamental role in neuroscience, and numerous scientists have been fascinated by its ability to reveal the brain's intricate morphology and functional properties. In recent years, two different techniques have been developed that are able to explore FC in pathophysiological conditions and to provide simple and non-invasive biomarkers for the detection of disease onset, severity and progression. These techniques are independent component analysis, which allows a network-based functional exploration of the brain, and graph theory, which provides a quantitative characterization of the whole-brain FC. In this paper we provide an overview of these two techniques and some examples of their clinical applications in the most common neurodegenerative disorders associated with cognitive decline, including mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy Bodies and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.
脑功能连接（FC）的无创映射在神经科学中发挥了基础性作用，众多科学家对其揭示大脑复杂形态和功能特性的能力着迷。近年来，已开发出两种不同技术，它们能够在病理生理条件下探索FC，并为疾病的发作、严重程度和进展检测提供简单且无创的生物标志物。这些技术是独立成分分析，它允许对大脑进行基于网络的功能探索；以及图论，它提供了全脑FC的定量表征。在本文中，我们概述了这两种技术，并举例说明了它们在与认知衰退相关的最常见神经退行性疾病中的临床应用，包括轻度认知障碍、阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病、路易体痴呆和行为变异型额颞叶痴呆。
