White Matter Network Alterations in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

• Main Authors: Ramesh Kumar Lama, Sang-Woong Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: alzheimer’s disease; network based statistics; white matter
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/3/919

Previous studies have revealed the occurrence of alterations of white matter (WM) and grey matter (GM) microstructures in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their prodromal state amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In general, these alterations can be studied comprehensively by modeling the brain as a complex network, which describes many important topological properties, such as the small-world property, modularity, and efficiency. In this study, we systematically investigated white matter abnormalities using unbiased whole brain network analysis. We compared regional and network related WM features between groups of 19 AD and 25 MCI patients and 22 healthy controls (HC) using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), network based statistics (NBS) and graph theoretical analysis. We did not find significant differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) between two groups on TBSS analysis. However, observable alterations were noticed at a network level. Brain network measures such as global efficiency and small world properties were low in AD patients compared to HCs.