Schultz Aaron P, Chhatwal Jasmeer P, Hedden Trey, Mormino Elizabeth C, Hanseeuw Bernard J, Sepulcre Jorge, Huijbers Willem, LaPoint Molly, Buckley Rachel F, Johnson Keith A, Sperling Reisa A
Departments of Neurology and.
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown HealthCare Center, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129.
J Neurosci. 2017 Apr 19;37(16):4323-4331. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3263-16.2017. Epub 2017 Mar 17.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by two hallmark molecular pathologies: amyloid aβ and Tau neurofibrillary tangles. To date, studies of functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) in individuals with preclinical AD have relied on associations with measures of amyloid pathology. With the recent advent of Tau-PET tracers it is now possible to extend investigations on fcMRI in a sample of cognitively normal elderly humans to regional measures of Tau. We modeled fcMRI measures across four major cortical association networks [default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SAL), dorsal attention network, and frontoparietal control network] as a function of global cortical amyloid [Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB)-PET] and regional Tau (AV1451-PET) in entorhinal, inferior temporal (IT), and inferior parietal cortex. Results showed that the interaction term between PiB and IT AV1451 was significantly associated with connectivity in the DMN and salience. The interaction revealed that amyloid-positive (aβ) individuals show increased connectivity in the DMN and salience when neocortical Tau levels are low, whereas aβ individuals demonstrate decreased connectivity in these networks as a function of elevated Tau-PET signal. This pattern suggests a hyperconnectivity phase followed by a hypoconnectivity phase in the course of preclinical AD. This article offers a first look at the relationship between Tau-PET imaging with F-AV1451 and functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) in the context of amyloid-PET imaging. The results suggest a nonlinear relationship between fcMRI and both Tau-PET and amyloid-PET imaging. The pattern supports recent conjecture that the AD fcMRI trajectory is characterized by periods of both hyperconnectivity and hypoconnectivity. Furthermore, this nonlinear pattern can account for the sometimes conflicting reports of associations between amyloid and fcMRI in individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
阿尔茨海默病(AD)的特征在于两种标志性分子病理学特征:淀粉样蛋白β(aβ)和 Tau 神经原纤维缠结。迄今为止,对临床前 AD 个体的功能连接磁共振成像(fcMRI)研究一直依赖于与淀粉样蛋白病理学测量指标的关联。随着 Tau 正电子发射断层显像(Tau-PET)示踪剂的近期出现,现在有可能将对认知正常的老年人样本进行的 fcMRI 研究扩展至 Tau 的区域测量。我们将四个主要皮质联合网络[默认模式网络(DMN)、突显网络(SAL)、背侧注意网络和额顶叶控制网络]的 fcMRI 测量值建模为内嗅皮质、颞下回(IT)和顶下小叶皮质中整体皮质淀粉样蛋白[匹兹堡化合物 B(PiB)-PET]和区域 Tau(AV1451-PET)的函数。结果显示,PiB 与 IT AV1451 之间的交互项与 DMN 和突显网络中的连接性显著相关。这种交互表明,淀粉样蛋白阳性(aβ)个体在新皮质 Tau 水平较低时,DMN 和突显网络中的连接性增加,而随着 Tau-PET 信号升高,aβ 个体在这些网络中的连接性则降低。这种模式表明在临床前 AD 过程中存在一个高连接性阶段,随后是低连接性阶段。本文首次探讨了在淀粉样蛋白-PET 成像背景下,Tau-PET 成像(使用 F-AV1451)与功能连接磁共振成像(fcMRI)之间的关系。结果表明 fcMRI 与 Tau-PET 和淀粉样蛋白-PET 成像之间均存在非线性关系。这种模式支持了近期的推测,即 AD 的 fcMRI 轨迹的特征是同时存在高连接性和低连接性时期。此外,这种非线性模式可以解释临床前阿尔茨海默病个体中淀粉样蛋白与 fcMRI 之间关联的一些相互矛盾的报道。