Multimodal fusion analysis of functional, cerebrovascular and structural neuroimaging in healthy ageing subjects

Abstract

Cognitive ageing is a complex process which requires multimodal approach. Neuroimaging can provide insights into brain morphology, functional organization and vascular dynamics. However, most neuroimaging studies of ageing have focused on each imaging modality separately, limiting the understanding of interrelations between processes identified by different modalities and the interpretation of neural correlates of cognitive decline in ageing. Here, we used linked independent component analysis as a data-driven multimodal approach to jointly analyze magnetic resonance imaging of grey matter density, cerebrovascular, and functional network topographies. Neuroimaging and behavioural data (n = 215) from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience study were used, containing healthy subjects aged 18 to 88. In the output components, fusion was found between structural and cerebrovascular topographies in multiple components with cognitive-relevance across the lifespan. A component reflecting global atrophy with regional cerebrovascular changes and a component reflecting right frontoparietal network activity were correlated with fluid intelligence over and above age and gender. No meaningful fusion between functional network topography and structural or cerebrovascular signals was observed. We propose that integrating multiple neuroimaging modalities allows to better characterize brain pattern variability and to differentiate brain changes in healthy ageing.

Hospitalisation for COVID-19 predicts long lasting cerebrovascular impairment: A prospective observational cohort study

“…It is easier and safer to apply in clinical cohorts than experimental hypercapnia, breath-holding and drug interventions (Keyeux et al, 1995; Rostrup et al, 1996, 1994; Wagerle and Mishra, 1988). RSFA is sensitive to cerebrovascular and cardiovascular differences in ageing (Garrett et al, 2017; Tsvetanov et al, 2020b, 2015), small vessel disease (Makedonov et al, 2013), stroke (Nair et al, 2017; Raut et al, 2016), Alzheimer’s disease (Makedonov et al, 2016; Millar et al, 2020a), cognitive performance (Liu et al, 2021; Millar et al, 2021, 2020b) and the presence of brain tumours (Agarwal et al, 2019, 2017).…”

Frontoparietal network integrity supports cognitive function despite atrophy and hypoperfusion in pre-symptomatic frontotemporal dementia: multimodal analysis of brain function, structure and perfusion

“…in accordance with the previous methodology used to identify networks from ICs [43,44]. The dorsal and ventral default mode network, the salience network, and the left and right frontoparietal network were selected, which are higher-order functional networks known to be associated with age-and FTD-related cognitive change [45][46][47].…”