Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation
Early cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s (AD) is associated with quantifiable structural and functional connectivity changes in the brain. AD dysregulation of Aβ and tau metabolism progressively disrupt normal synaptic function, leading to loss of synapses, decreased hippocampal synaptic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Biomedicines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/2/355 |
| _version_ | 1797622254391001088 |
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| author | Samo Ribarič |
| author_facet | Samo Ribarič |
| author_sort | Samo Ribarič |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Early cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s (AD) is associated with quantifiable structural and functional connectivity changes in the brain. AD dysregulation of Aβ and tau metabolism progressively disrupt normal synaptic function, leading to loss of synapses, decreased hippocampal synaptic density and early hippocampal atrophy. Advances in brain imaging techniques in living patients have enabled the transition from clinical signs and symptoms-based AD diagnosis to biomarkers-based diagnosis, with functional brain imaging techniques, quantitative EEG, and body fluids sampling. The hippocampus has a central role in semantic and episodic memory processing. This cognitive function is critically dependent on normal intrahippocampal connections and normal hippocampal functional connectivity with many cortical regions, including the perirhinal and the entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal cortex, association regions in the temporal and parietal lobes, and prefrontal cortex. Therefore, decreased hippocampal synaptic density is reflected in the altered functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks (aka large-scale networks), including the parietal memory, default mode, and salience networks. This narrative review discusses recent critical issues related to detecting AD-associated early cognitive decline with brain synaptic structural and functional markers in high-risk or neuropsychologically diagnosed patients with subjective cognitive impairment or mild cognitive impairment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:07:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f9974dcdf35d42fa86f03f50e7d7e372 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9059 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:07:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomedicines |
| spelling | doaj.art-f9974dcdf35d42fa86f03f50e7d7e3722023-11-16T19:16:59ZengMDPI AGBiomedicines2227-90592023-01-0111235510.3390/biomedicines11020355Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional EvaluationSamo Ribarič0Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Pathophysiology, University of Ljubljana, Zaloška 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaEarly cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s (AD) is associated with quantifiable structural and functional connectivity changes in the brain. AD dysregulation of Aβ and tau metabolism progressively disrupt normal synaptic function, leading to loss of synapses, decreased hippocampal synaptic density and early hippocampal atrophy. Advances in brain imaging techniques in living patients have enabled the transition from clinical signs and symptoms-based AD diagnosis to biomarkers-based diagnosis, with functional brain imaging techniques, quantitative EEG, and body fluids sampling. The hippocampus has a central role in semantic and episodic memory processing. This cognitive function is critically dependent on normal intrahippocampal connections and normal hippocampal functional connectivity with many cortical regions, including the perirhinal and the entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal cortex, association regions in the temporal and parietal lobes, and prefrontal cortex. Therefore, decreased hippocampal synaptic density is reflected in the altered functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks (aka large-scale networks), including the parietal memory, default mode, and salience networks. This narrative review discusses recent critical issues related to detecting AD-associated early cognitive decline with brain synaptic structural and functional markers in high-risk or neuropsychologically diagnosed patients with subjective cognitive impairment or mild cognitive impairment.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/2/355Alzheimer’s diseaseATN biomarkerscognitive declinefunctional connectivityhippocampuslarge-scale networks |
| spellingShingle | Samo Ribarič Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation Biomedicines Alzheimer’s disease ATN biomarkers cognitive decline functional connectivity hippocampus large-scale networks |
| title | Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation |
| title_full | Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation |
| title_fullStr | Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation |
| title_short | Detecting Early Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Synaptic Structural and Functional Evaluation |
| title_sort | detecting early cognitive decline in alzheimer s disease with brain synaptic structural and functional evaluation |
| topic | Alzheimer’s disease ATN biomarkers cognitive decline functional connectivity hippocampus large-scale networks |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/2/355 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT samoribaric detectingearlycognitivedeclineinalzheimersdiseasewithbrainsynapticstructuralandfunctionalevaluation |