Effect of APOEε4 on Functional Brain Network in Patients with Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Resting State Functional MRI Study

作者：Deng, Simin; Sun, Lingyu; Chen, Weijie; Liu, Xiaorong; Chen, Shangjie^*

来源：International Journal of General Medicine, 2021, 14: 9761-9771.

DOI：10.2147/IJGM.S342673

• SCD
• APOE epsilon 4 allele
• graph theory
• whole brain network characteristics
• intracerebral node characteristics

Purpose: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is the earliest symptom stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the APOE epsilon 4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for sporadic AD. Based on graph theory, the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in SCD patients with APOE epsilon 4 was studied to explore the effect of APOE epsilon 4 on the rsFC network properties of SCD patients. @@@ Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study included MRI image data from 19 SCD patients with APOE epsilon 4 (SCD+), 29 SCD patients without APOE epsilon 4 (SCD-), and 30 normal control (NC-) individuals without APOE epsilon 4. We generated a binary matrix based on anatomical automatic labeling (AAL) 90 atlas to construct the functional network. We then calculated the whole brain network characteristics and intracerebral node characteristics by graph theory. @@@ Results: For the whole brain network characteristics, all three groups showed small-worldness. The SCD+ group had increased compensatory information transfer speed and enhanced integration capability. This group also had high heterogeneity for intracerebral node characteristics, mainly in the default mode network, left superior occipital gyms, and bilateral putamen. @@@ Conclusion: APOE epsilon 4 effects the functional brain network in patients with SCD and may be a potential indicator for the identification of SCD.

• 单位
  南方医科大学