Abstract
Background This case-control study is aimed to investigate the correlation of altered functional connectivity (FC) in cerebellum with cognitive impairment in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Methods The morphometric and resting-state FC MRI analysis including 47 participants with AD, 32 with aMCI and 43 age-matched normal controls (NCs) were conducted. We compared the cerebellar gray matter volume and cerebellar FC with cerebral cortical regions among three groups. To investigate the relationship of cerebellar FC with cognition, we measure the correlation of significant altered FC and individual cognitive domain.Results No significant morphometric differences of cerebellum was observed across three groups. The patients with AD had weaker cerebral cortical FCs in bilateral Crus I, left VIIb and IX compared to NCs, and in bilateral Crus I compared to patients with aMCI. For patients with aMCI, the weaker FC were found between right Crus I, left VIIb and IX and cerebral cortical regions compared to NCs. The strength of left cerebellar FC positively correlated with specific cognitive subdomains, including executive function, attention, visuospatial function, and global cognition in AD and aMCI.Conclusions These findings demonstrated the alteration of cerebellar FC with cerebral cortical regions, and the correlation of cerebellar FC and cognitive impairment in AD and aMCI.
A study on changes of the resting-state brain function network in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment
