AUTHOR=Jacini Francesca , Sorrentino Pierpaolo , Lardone Anna , Rucco Rosaria , Baselice Fabio , Cavaliere Carlo , Aiello Marco , Orsini Mario , Iavarone Alessandro , Manzo Valentino , Carotenuto Anna , Granata Carmine , Hillebrand Arjan , Sorrentino Giuseppe TITLE=Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Is Associated With Frequency-Specific Brain Network Alterations in Temporal Poles JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience VOLUME=10 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00400 DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2018.00400 ISSN=1663-4365 ABSTRACT=

There is general agreement that the neuropathological processes leading to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) begin decades before the clinical onset. In order to detect early topological changes, we applied functional connectivity and network analysis to magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data obtained from 16 patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), a prodromal stage of AD, and 16 matched healthy control (HCs). Significant differences between the two groups were found in the theta band, which is associated with memory processes, in both temporal poles (TPs). In aMCI, the degree and betweenness centrality (BC) were lower in the left superior TP, whereas in the right middle TP the BC was higher. A statistically significant negative linear correlation was found between the BC of the left superior TP and a delayed recall score, a sensitive marker of the “hippocampal memory” deficit in early AD. Our results suggest that the TPs, which are involved early in AD pathology and belong to the memory circuitry, have an altered role in the functional network in aMCI.