Yingmei Han, Chaojie Wang, Yi Zhang, Yijie Li, Heng Zhang, Ze Feng, Weiqing Li, Bingyuan Chu, Feng Wang
Graduate School of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
Acupuncture and Moxibustion Massage College, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
Front Neurosci. 2025 Feb 13;19:1503955. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1503955. eCollection 2025.
Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is an early manifestation of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum, and accurately diagnosing SCD to differentiate it from neurotypical aging in older adults is a common challenge for researchers.
This review examines and summarizes relevant studies regarding the neuroimaging of the AD continuum, and comprehensively summarizes and outlines the SCD clinical features characterizing along with the corresponding neuroimaging changes involving structural, functional, and metabolic networks.
The clinical characteristics of SCD include a subjective decline in self-perceived cognitive function, and there are significant imaging changes, such as reductions in gray matter volume in certain brain regions, abnormalities in the integrity of white matter tracts and diffusion metrics, alterations in functional connectivity between different sub-networks or within networks, as well as abnormalities in brain metabolic networks and cerebral blood flow perfusion.
The 147 referenced studies in this paper indicate that exploring the structural, functional, and metabolic network changes in the brain related to SCD through neuroimaging aims to enhance the goals and mission of brain science development programs: "Understanding the Brain," "Protecting the Brain," and "Creating the Brain," thereby strengthening researchers' investigation into the mechanisms of brain function. Early diagnosis of SCD, along with prompt intervention, can reduce the incidence of AD spectrum while improving patients' quality of life, even integrating numerous scientific research achievements into unified and established standards and applying them in clinical practice by doctors, thus all encouraging researchers to further investigate SCD issues in older adults.
主观认知下降（SCD）是阿尔茨海默病（AD）连续体的早期表现，准确诊断SCD以将其与老年人的正常神经衰老区分开来，是研究人员面临的一项常见挑战。
本综述对AD连续体神经影像学的相关研究进行了考察和总结，并全面概括和概述了SCD的临床特征以及涉及结构、功能和代谢网络的相应神经影像学变化。
SCD的临床特征包括自我感知认知功能的主观下降，并且存在显著的影像学变化，如某些脑区灰质体积减少、白质束完整性和扩散指标异常、不同子网之间或网络内功能连接改变，以及脑代谢网络和脑血流灌注异常。
本文引用的147项研究表明，通过神经影像学探索与SCD相关的脑结构、功能和代谢网络变化，旨在提升脑科学发展计划“理解大脑”“保护大脑”和“创造大脑”的目标与使命，从而加强研究人员对脑功能机制的研究。SCD的早期诊断及及时干预可降低AD谱系疾病的发病率，同时提高患者生活质量，甚至将众多科研成果整合为统一且既定的标准并由医生应用于临床实践，所有这些都鼓励研究人员进一步研究老年人中的SCD问题。
