Regional cerebral blood flow decline can predict atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease spectrum
Abstract According to MRI findings, brain atrophy and structural changes play important roles as valid biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and can support the clinical diagnosis of AD. A decline in the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) is believed to be one of the initial changes in the AD continuum. Some studies revealed an association between the amyloid beta (Aβ) and rCBF pattern and suggested that reduced rCBF is an early consequence of neural death prior to considerable grey matter loss. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the association between rCBF and brain structural changes in three groups of individuals, that is, control (CN), MCI, and AD groups. Our findings revealed a wide spread significant correlation between the rCBF and structural changes, including cortical volume, subcortical volume, surface area, and thickness in all groups after adjusting for age, sex, and APOE genotyping status. According to the present results, CBF might predict future structural changes and cause neurodegeneration associated with AD development, regardless of Aβ or tau accumulation.