Exploring of new biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease based on a large scale neurovascular coupling model

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder that is difficult to diagnose early. Traditional methods can only confirm the diagnosis when symptoms are evident, but by that time, brain damage is irreversible. Recent research has found that changes in brain activity patterns occur early in AD. Using brain imaging and computational modeling techniques, we can hopefully detect these changes before the onset of symptoms, enabling early intervention. In this paper, we constructed a neurovascular coupling (NVC) whole-brain dynamic model by integrating brain structural data with biophysical modeling methods, aiming to explore the association between dynamical parameters and biomarkers of AD and to reveal their relationship with the overall brain function and network dynamic changes. First, the model simulates properly the resting-state functional connectivity (FC) at various stages of AD development; second, the strength of circulatory connectivity and NVC parameters generated by the brain simulation may be some potential new indicators for the early diagnosis of AD; and finally, the predictive ability of the indicator is quantified using the area under the curve (AUC) values of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, which suggests a dual strategy for the early diagnosis of biomarkers. These new indicators not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms of disease progression but also provide an important theoretical basis and technical support for the formulation of early intervention strategies and the development of novel therapeutic approaches.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease / early diagnosis / multimodal data / neurovascular coupling / whole brain model

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