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Neurodegeneration of brain networks in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–frontotemporal lobar degeneration (ALS–FTLD) continuum: evidence from MRI and MEG studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2017

Francesca Trojsi Open the ORCID record for Francesca Trojsi [Opens in a new window] ,
Pierpaolo Sorrentino ,
Giuseppe Sorrentino  and
Gioacchino Tedeschi
Francesca Trojsi*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Aging Sciences, MRI Research Center SUN–FISM, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli,” Naples, Italy
Pierpaolo Sorrentino
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Naples Parthenope, Naples, Italy
Giuseppe Sorrentino
Affiliation:
Department of Motor Sciences and Wellness, University of Naples Parthenope, Institute Hermitage–Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
Gioacchino Tedeschi
Affiliation:
Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic, and Aging Sciences, MRI Research Center SUN–FISM, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli,” Naples, Italy
*
*Address for correspondence: Francesca Trojsi, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic and Aging Sciences, MRI Research Center SUN–FISM, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli,” Piazza Miraglia 2, 80138 Naples, Italy. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Brain imaging techniques, especially those based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), have been increasingly applied to study multiple large-scale distributed brain networks in healthy people and neurological patients. With regard to neurodegenerative disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), clinically characterized by the predominant loss of motor neurons and progressive weakness of voluntary muscles, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), the second most common early-onset dementia, have been proven to share several clinical, neuropathological, genetic, and neuroimaging features. Specifically, overlapping or mildly diverging brain structural and functional connectivity patterns, mostly evaluated by advanced MRI techniques—such as diffusion tensor and resting-state functional MRI (DT–MRI, RS–fMRI)—have been described comparing several ALS and FTLD populations. Moreover, though only pioneering, promising clues on connectivity patterns in the ALS–FTLD continuum may derive from MEG investigations. We will herein overview the current state of knowledge concerning the most advanced neuroimaging findings associated with clinical and genetic patterns of neurodegeneration across the ALS–FTLD continuum, underlying the possibility that network-based approaches may be useful to develop novel biomarkers of disease for adequately designing and monitoring more appropriate treatment strategies.

Keywords

Networkamyotrophic lateral sclerosisfrontotemporal lobar degenerationMRIMEG
Type
Review
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 23 , Special Issue 6: Theme: Neuropsychiatry , December 2018 , pp. 378 - 387
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

These authors have contributed equally.

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