Summary

在阿尔茨海默病和轻度认知功能损害的定向功能连接格兰杰因果关系分析中的应用

Published: August 07, 2017
doi:

Summary

我们基于静息态功能磁共振成像与格兰杰因果分析法,研究了定向功能连接后扣带皮层与整个大脑在阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 患者、 患者轻度认知功能损害 (MCI) 和健康对照组之间改建。

Abstract

受损功能连接在默认模式网络 (DMN) 可能参与阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 的进展。后扣带皮层 (PCC) 是一个潜在的成像标记为监测进展的广告。以前的研究没有集中的功能连接 PCC 和节点以外 DMN,地区之间,但我们的研究是努力探索这些被忽视的功能连接。收集数据,我们使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 和格兰杰因果关系分析 (GCA)。功能磁共振成像提供研究大脑不同区域之间的动态相互作用的非侵入性方法。GCA 是确定一次性系列是否有用在预测另一个统计假设检验。简单来说,就判断比较”已知的最后一刻,在这次的 X 的概率分布上的所有信息”和”都已知的最后时刻,只 Y,此时 X 的概率分布上的所有信息”,以确定是否 Y 和 X 之间的因果关系。这个定义基于完整的信息源和固定的顺序。这一分析的主要步骤是使用 X 和 Y 建立的回归方程,并画一种因果关系的假设检验。因为一般配合力效应可以衡量因果效应,我们用它来调查功能连通性的各向异性和探讨 PCC 的枢纽作用。在这里,我们筛选出 116 参与者进行 MRI 扫描,和经过预处理从神经影像学获得的数据,我们用于 GCA 派生的每个节点的因果关系。最后,我们总结的定向的连接是轻度认知功能损害 (MCI) 和广告组,对全脑 PCC 和 PCC 的整个大脑之间显著不同。

Introduction

广告是,可以使用组织病理、 电生理和神经影像学1诊断中枢神经系统退行性疾病。与内存相关 DMN 是重要的系统的相互作用的大脑区域,与广告,关联和其异常的作用的特点是 AD23。PCC 是传统默认网络在静息状态的重要区域,起着关键作用,情景记忆、 空间注意、 自我评价和其他认知功能4567。此外,它可能是成像监测指标的 AD 进展。使用 GCA,廖等人发现 PCC 是一个区域的多个 cytoarchitectonics 具有多个连接和脑功能结构8中扮演重要的角色。钟等人报告说,PCC 相互作用收到多数其他区域内 DMN3辐合中心。此外,庙等人证明,DMN 枢纽地区,PCC 与其他节点9的最大的因果关系。在一起,所有这一证据表明 PCC 的定向的连接是有价值的广告研究和 PCC 有待进一步深入作为 DMN 至关重要的地区。

以往的研究仅仅局限在 PCC 和内 DMN; 其他区域之间的连接然而,定向功能连接 PCC 和大脑区域外 DMN,以及他们对广告的影响之间的变化尚未探索的10。我们进一步研究了这未知的功能连接在正常对照组、 MCI,患者和 AD 患者。通过观察 PCC 和整个大脑区域之间的直接的连接,我们旨在澄清与 AD 进展,相关的脑功能变化,从而建立了新型的客观依据,评估疾病的严重程度。

功能连接是指在脑血液氧水平依赖 (BOLD) 功能磁共振成像信号区域间的互动,可以通过同步低频波动 (LFFs) 表示。因此,为观察 PCC 和其它脑区之间的功能连接,我们分析了 PCC 和全脑网络之间的功能连接的功能磁共振成像使用 GCA,pcc 作为区域的利息率 (ROI)。这项技术直接推导出使用从神经影像学11获得的数据的每个节点的基本关系。最近,GCA 已被应用于脑电图 (EEG) 和功能磁共振成像研究,以揭示大脑区域12之间的因果效应。所有这些研究都表明 GCA 技术可能是最优检测在大脑中的每个节点之间的因果关系。

Protocol

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital. Every enrolled subject signed a written informed consent. 1. Sample Classification and Screening Diagnose and divide 116 patients into AD and MCI groups. NOTE: Use the 2011 National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) diagnostic criteria and the Mini-Mental State Examination…

Representative Results

Demographic information Table 1 presents the characteristics of the subjects. All the subjects had an education level of junior school or above. Age, gender, and education level were similar between the three groups (P >0.05), while the MMSE scores were significantly different (p <0.01). Directed brain functional connectivity <p…

Discussion

本报告介绍了过程比较了定向功能 PCC 给整个大脑,从整个大脑与连接之间广告,PCC MCI 和对照组。此外,这一进程的关键一步是样本的分类和筛选实验前。因此,分类和筛选标准至关重要,因为如果他们是错误的可以影响结果的准确性。在议定书 》 中所列,我们用于 2011 NINCDS ADRDA 诊断标准和 MMSE 和标准的 MCI; 鉴定和分类我们筛选标准也述上述协议。我们排除了那些不适合审判,,然后,准确分…

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

作者感谢宫俊吉对计算机软件支持。这项研究部分受中国国家自然科学基金会 (第 81201156 号,81271517);浙江省的自然科学基金 (no。LY16H180007,LY13H180016,2013C33G1360236),从浙江省 (号 2013RCA001,201522257),健康委员会的科学基础。

Materials

116 patients Zhejiang Provincial People’s hospital This study was approved by the ethics committee of Zhejiang Provincial People’s hospital. Every enrolled subject signed a written informed consent form.
Siemens Trio 3.0 T MRI scanner Siemens, Erlangen, Germany 20571 Equipped with AudioComfort that reduces acoustic noise up to 90%; Provides high performance at a low noise level; Ultra light-weight coil; Unique MRI sequence design; Supports up to 400 pounds without restrictions.
RESTplus Hangzhou Normal University,Hangzhou,Zhejiang,China 20160122 RESTplus evolved from REST (Resting-State fMRI Data Analysis Toolkit), a convenient toolkit to calculate Functional Connectivity (FC), Regional Homogeneity(ReHo), Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation (ALFF), Fractional ALFF (fALFF), Gragner causality, degree centrality, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and perform statistical analysis.
DPARSF Hangzhou Normal University,Hangzhou,Zhejiang,China 130615 Data Processing Assistant for Resting-State fMRI (DPARSF) is a convenient plug-in software within DPABI, which is based on SPM. You just need to arrange your DICOM files, and click a few buttons to set parameters, DPARSF will then give all the preprocessed data, functional connectivity, ReHo, ALFF/fALFF, degree centrality, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) results.
SPSS SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA SPSS offers detailed analysis options to look deeper into your data and spot trends that you might not have noticed.

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Cite This Article
Wang, M., Liao, Z., Mao, D., Zhang, Q., Li, Y., Yu, E., Ding, Z. Application of Granger Causality Analysis of the Directed Functional Connection in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. J. Vis. Exp. (126), e56015, doi:10.3791/56015 (2017).

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