Brain connectivity
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In patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), prominent hypometabolism has been observed in brain regions with minor amyloid load. These hypometabolism-only (HO) areas cannot be explained merely as a consequence of local amyloid toxicity. The aim of this multimodal imaging study was to explore whether such HO phenomenon may be related to pathologies in functionally connected, remote brain regions. ⋯ The HO-ICN in healthy controls showed a major overlap with brain areas significantly affected by both amyloid deposition and hypometabolism in patients. This association was substantiated by the results of region-of-interest-based and voxel-wise correlation analyses, which revealed strong correlations between the degree of hypometabolism within the HO region and within the HO-ICN. These results support the notion that hypometabolism in brain regions not strongly affected by locoregional amyloid pathology may be related to ongoing pathologies in remote but functionally connected regions, that is, by reduced neuronal input from these regions.