Assessment of functional characteristics of amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease using various methods of resting-state FMRI analysis

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS FMRI) has been widely used to analyze functional alterations in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Although many clinical studies of aMCI and AD patients using RS FMRI have been undertaken, conducting a meta-analysis has not been easy because of seed selection bias by the investigators. The purpose of our study was to investigate the functional differences in aMCI and AD patients compared with healthy subjects in a meta-analysis. Thus, a multimethod approach using regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF), and global brain connectivity was used to investigate differences between three groups based on previously published data. According to the choice of RS FMRI approach used, the patterns of functional alteration were slightly different. Nevertheless, patients with aMCI and AD displayed consistently decreased functional characteristics with all approaches. All approaches showed that the functional characteristics in the left parahippocampal gyrus were decreased in AD patients compared with healthy subjects. Although some regions were slightly different according to the different RS FMRI approaches, patients with aMCI and AD showed a consistent pattern of decreased functional characteristics with all approaches.