Cortico-cortical signal transmission and brain connectivity alterations at prodromal stage and during the progression of Alzheimer’s disease: a multimodal approach of TMS-EEG and advanced MR
Project funded by Italian Ministry of Health, Young Researcher Grant – Ricerca Finalizzata 2016 (GR-2016-02364132).
Recently, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been defined a disconnection syndrome, leading to an increased interest on structural and functional connectivity together with improvement of neuroimaging techniques for brain network reconstruction. However, the application of these techniques is limited and far from clinical practice. The transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography coregistration (TMS-EEG) is an established tool to study brain connectivity that overcomes these limitations. Here we aim at establishing the potential of TMS-EEG measures as marker for diagnosis and of progression in late-onset AD and in early-onset AD. We will test the relationship of TMS-EEG measures with brain network white matter (WM) integrity and patient cognitive decline, at the initial AD stage and during disease progression. This approach will provide a single-subject marker of brain connectivity in early AD and its clinical variants for an immediate translation to the clinical practice.