The abstract is read at the publisher; the summary is JClub's.
Baseline tau burden in high-NFT medial temporal lobe subregions predicts later resting-state functional connectivity reductions in the high-NFT MTL network, especially involving inferior temporal gyrus and precuneus, across the AD continuum.
- Why it matters: It is unclear how tau-vulnerable medial temporal lobe connectivity relates to tau pathology, synaptic dysfunction, and cognitive decline from cognitively normal status through advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
- What they did: Using resting-state fMRI in ADNI (N = 386; 144 with 2-year follow-up) and a local validation cohort (N = 100; 25 receiving HF-rTMS), the MTL was split into high- vs low-NFT subregions, seed-based whole-brain FC was tested, and serial mediation, cross-lagged, and longitudinal regression models were applied.
- The result: FC changes in high-NFT MTL regions show stage-dependent links to pathology and cognition, and mediation supports a tau-to-cognition pathway via altered precuneus/occipital connectivity and subsequent synaptic dysfunction, with HF-rTMS cognitive gains partially tied to enhanced synaptic plasticity through precuneus-high-NFT MTL connectivity.
The findingWhy it mattersWhat they didThe result
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