ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2025
Differential effects of aging, Alzheimer's pathology, and APOE4 on longitudinal functional connectivity and episodic memory in older adults.
Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dissociable, species-specific impact of Aβ on static and dynamic functional connectomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal changes in subcortical functional connectivity during Alzheimer's disease progression.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Article
- Longitudinal biomarker studies in human neuroimaging: capturing biological change of Alzheimer's pathology.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Review
- Longitudinal functional connectivity during rest and task is differentially related to Alzheimer's pathology and episodic memory in older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The medial septum-hippocampus-lateral septum circuitry in spatial memory: linking healthy function to early Alzheimer's disease and translational opportunities.Translational neurodegeneration · 2025Review
- Machine-learning based strategy identifies a robust protein biomarker panel for Alzheimer's disease in cerebrospinal fluid.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Disrupted theta oscillation propagation in healthy elderly individuals with apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
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10 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundBoth aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) affect brain networks, with early disruptions occurring in regions involved in episodic memory. Few studies have, however, focused on distinguishing region-specific effects of AD-biomarker negative "normal" aging and early amyloid- and tau pathology on functional connectivity. Further, longitudinal studies combining imaging, biomarkers, and cognition are rare.
methodsWe assessed resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) strength and graph measures in the episodic memory network including the medial temporal lobe (MTL), posteromedial cortex (PMC), and medial prefrontal cortex alongside cognition over two years. For this preregistered study, we included 100 older adults who were amyloid- and tau-negative using CSF and PET measurements to investigate "normal" aging, and 70 older adults who had longitudinal CSF data available to investigate functional changes related to early AD pathology. All participants were cognitively unimpaired older adults from the PREVENT-AD cohort. We used region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI bivariate correlations, graph analysis, and multiple regression models.
resultsIn the amyloid- and tau-negative sample, rsFC strength within PMC, between parahippocampal cortex and inferomedial precuneus, and between posterior hippocampus and inferomedial precuneus decreased over time. Additionally, we observed a longitudinal decrease in global efficiency. Further, there was a steeper longitudinal decrease in rsFC and global efficiency with higher baseline age particularly of parahippocampal-gyrus regions. Further, lower rsFC strength within PMC was associated with poorer longitudinal episodic memory performance. In the sample with available CSF data, a steeper increase in rsFC between anterior hippocampus and superior precuneus was related to higher baseline AD pathology. Higher MTL-PMC rsFC strength was differentially associated with episodic memory trajectories depending on APOE4 genotype.
conclusionsOur findings suggest differential effects of aging and AD pathology. Hypoconnectivity within PMC was related to aging and cognitive decline. MTL-PMC hyperconnectivity was related to early AD pathology and cognitive decline in APOE4 carriers. Future studies should investigate more diverse samples, nonetheless, our approach allowed us to identify longitudinal functional changes related to aging and early AD pathology, enhancing cross-sectional research. Hyperconnectivity has been proposed as a mechanism related to early AD pathology before, we now contribute specific functional connections to focus on in future research.
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