Federica Agosta1, Maria Assunta Rocca1, Elisabetta Pagani1, Martina Absinta1, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini2, Giuseppe Magnani3, Alessandra Marcone4, Monica Falautano3, Giancarlo Comi3, Massimo Filippi1
1Neuroimaging Research Unit, Scientific Institute and University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; 2Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; 3Department of Neurology, Scientific Institute and University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; 4Division of Neurology, San Raffaele Turro Hospital, Milan, Italy
F-MRI and effective connectivity analyses were used to investigate the sensorimotor network in 10 Alzheimers disease (AD), 15 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 11 controls. An increased activation of several sensorimotor regions were found in aMCI vs. controls and AD. Abnormal connectivity was revealed between left primary motor cortex, caudate nucleus and cingulate motor area in both patient groups. fMRI metrics correlated with hippocampi atrophy in aMCI, and overall grey matter damage in AD. This suggests the occurrence of a widespread brain rewiring with increasing structural damage rather than a specific response of the cognitive network to MTL injury.
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