Abstract #1491

The effect of white matter signal abnormalities on default mode network connectivity in mild cognitive impairment

Zhuonan Wang¹, Victoria J Williams², Kimberly A Stephens³, Chan-Mi Kim³, Ming Zhang⁴, and David Salat³

¹PET/CT Unit, Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China, ²Alzheimer's Clinical and Translational Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ³Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ⁴Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

The striking spatial overlap between regions of default mode network (DMN) and cortical areas most susceptible to Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology and neurodegeneration, with alterations in DMN functional connectivity routinely observed among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We examine the relative associations between white matter lesions of presumed vascular origin and cortical thinning typical of AD pathology with DMN integrity to elucidate mechanisms of disease. The degree of white matter damage may have a specific influence on precuneus and mPFC coupling and the observed preferential associations with white matter lesions support a vascular etiology to subtle impairment in MCI.

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