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Network-Specific Disruptions in Structure-Function Coupling in Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia

Presented During: Poster Session 3
Friday, June 27, 2025: 01:45 PM - 03:45 PM

Presented During: Poster Session 4
Saturday, June 28, 2025: 01:45 PM - 03:45 PM

Poster No:

1268 

Submission Type:

Late-Breaking Abstract Submission 

Authors:

JinBeom Kim1, Hyun Woong Roh2, Dongha Lee1

Institutions:

1Korea Brain Research Institute, Daegu, Gyeongsang Bukdo, 2Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do

First Author:

JinBeom Kim  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Gyeongsang Bukdo

Co-Author(s):

Hyun Woong Roh  
Ajou University School of Medicine
Suwon, Gyeonggi-do
Dongha Lee  
Korea Brain Research Institute
Daegu, Gyeongsang Bukdo

Late Breaking Reviewer(s):

Sylvain Baillet  
Montreal Neurological Institute
Montreal, Quebec
Michael Breakspear, PhD  
The University of Newcastle
New Lambton Heights, NSW
Sofie Valk  
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Leipzig, Saxony

Introduction:

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) exhibit distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. However, the relationship between structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) across brain networks in these disorders remains incompletely understood. To address this issue, we investigated network-specific differences in SC-FC coupling between AD and VaD patients.

Methods:

We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state functional MRI data from 34 AD and 20 VaD patients. Structural connectivity was computed using tractography with inverse-length weighting, and functional connectivity was calculated from filtered BOLD signals. Structure-function coupling was analyzed in the whole-brain network and 7 functional subnetworks using Spearman's correlation following non-normality confirmation (Shapiro-Wilk test, p<0.05), with between-group differences assessed via independent t-tests.

Results:

While whole-brain structure-function coupling showed comparable values between AD (r=0.163) and VaD (r=0.167) patients (p=0.742), network-specific analyses revealed significantly reduced coupling within the default mode network (p=0.032) and limbic network (p=0.028) in VaD compared to AD patients. No statistically significant differences were observed in other networks.
Supporting Image: figure1.jpg
 

Conclusions:

These findings demonstrate selective disruptions in structure-function relationships within networks critical for memory, introspection, and emotional processing, reflecting the distinct pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these dementia subtypes. The results highlight the importance of network-level analyses in characterizing the neurobiological foundations of dementia subtypes.


Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the KBRI basic research program through Korea Brain Research Institute funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (25-BR-03-01, 25-BR-03-02) and the Bio&Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (RS-2024-00401794).

Disorders of the Nervous System:

Neurodegenerative/ Late Life (eg. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s) 2

Modeling and Analysis Methods:

Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 1

Keywords:

Other - Structure-Function Coupling, Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular Dementia, Default Mode Network

1|2Indicates the priority used for review

Abstract Information

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Functional MRI
Structural MRI
Diffusion MRI

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3.0T

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