TY  - JOUR
AU  - Weller, Anna
AU  - Bischof, Gérard Nisal
AU  - Schlüter, Philipp
AU  - Richter, Nils
AU  - Dronse, Julian
AU  - Onur, Özgür
AU  - Neumaier, Bernd
AU  - Kukolja, Juraj
AU  - Langen, Karl-Josef
AU  - Fink, Gereon R.
AU  - Kunoth, Angela
AU  - Shao, Yaping
AU  - van Eimeren, Thilo
AU  - Drzezga, Alexander
TI  - Finding new communities: A principle of neuronal network reorganization in Alzheimer’s disease.
JO  - Brain Connectivity
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
SN  - 2158-0022
CY  - New Rochelle, NY
PB  - Liebert
M1  - FZJ-2021-00098
SP  - 225-238
PY  - 2021
AB  - Background: Graph-theoretical analyses have been previously used to investigate changes in the functional connectome in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, these analyses generally assume static organizational principles, thereby neglecting a fundamental reconfiguration of functional connections in the face of neurodegeneration.Methods: Here, we focus on differences in the community structure of the functional connectome in young and old individuals and patients with AD. Patients with AD, moreover, underwent molecular imaging positron emission tomography by using [18F]AV1451 to measure tau burden, a major hallmark of AD.Results: Although the overall organizational principles of the community structure of the human functional connectome were preserved even in advanced healthy aging, they were considerably changed in AD. We discovered that the communities in AD are re-organized, with nodes changing their allegiance to communities, thus resulting in an overall less efficient re-organized community structure. We further discovered that nodes with a tendency to leave the communities displayed a relatively higher tau pathology burden.Discussion: Together, this study suggests that local tau pathology in AD is associated to fundamental changes in basic organizational principles of the human connectome. Our results shed new light on previous findings obtained by using the graph theory in AD and imply a general principle of the brain in response to neurodegeneration.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 33356820
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000640690500007
DO  - DOI:10.1089/brain.2020.0889
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/889188
ER  -