Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-11-4
pubmed:abstractText
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is known to cause a variety of disturbances of higher visual functions that are closely related to the neuropathological changes. Visual association areas are more affected than primary visual cortex. Additionally, there is evidence from neuropsychological and imaging studies during rest or passive visual stimulation that the occipitotemporal pathway is less affected than the parietal pathway. Our goal was to investigate functional activation patterns during active visuospatial processing in AD patients and the impact of local cerebral atrophy on the strength of functional activation. Fourteen AD patients and fourteen age-matched controls were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they performed an angle discrimination task. Both groups revealed overlapping networks engaged in angle discrimination including the superior parietal lobule (SPL), frontal and occipitotemporal (OTC) cortical regions, primary visual cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus. The most pronounced differences between the two groups were found in the SPL (more activity in controls) and OTC (more activity in patients). The differences in functional activation between the AD patients and controls were partly explained by the differences in individual SPL atrophy. These results indicate that parietal dysfunction in mild to moderate AD is compensated by recruitment of the ventral visual pathway. We furthermore suggest that local cerebral atrophy should be considered as a covariate in functional imaging studies of neurodegenerative disorders.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
1053-8119
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
17
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1403-14
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Aged, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Alzheimer Disease, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Atrophy, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Cerebral Cortex, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Discrimination Learning, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Dominance, Cerebral, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Female, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Imaging, Three-Dimensional, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Magnetic Resonance Imaging, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Male, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Mental Recall, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Middle Aged, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Nerve Net, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Neuropsychological Tests, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Orientation, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Oxygen, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Pattern Recognition, Visual, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Psychomotor Performance, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Reference Values, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Size Perception, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Visual Cortex, pubmed-meshheading:12414280-Visual Pathways
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
Functional imaging of visuospatial processing in Alzheimer's disease.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychiatry, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't