There are many active research projects accessing and applying shared ADNI data. Use the search above to find specific research focuses on the active ADNI investigations. This information is requested annually as a requirement for data access.
| Principal Investigator | |
| Principal Investigator's Name: | Felix Hoffstaedter |
| Institution: | Research Center Jülich |
| Department: | Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7) |
| Country: | |
| Proposed Analysis: | Structural asymmetry in neurodegenerative diseases The pathogenesis of most neurodegenerative diseases still remain largely unknown, rendering the diagnosis difficult in early stages which leads to a relatively late detection of pathology with already advanced disease progression. Finding clinical markers or correlates that define the development of common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease will therefore contribute to further illuminate pathogenesis. Specifically associations between structural changes in brain tissue and developing pathology underlying these early changes will aid earlier detection of the disease potentially enabling better treatment. In Alzheimer’s disease, hemispheric asymmetry has been found to differ between types of imaging diagnostics. Yoon HJ et al. for example investigated pattern of asymmetric amyloid beta deposition during AD progression with PET imaging and concluded that asymmetric amyloid deposition may be an early sign of MCI.1 Interestingly, Motomura et al. also found significant left-right asymmetries using SPECT imaging but did not find relationships between asymmetry and the duration of illness or the severity of the disease assuming that asymmetry reflects subtypes more than the evolutive stages of the disease.2 In contrast to these more functional asymmetries, structrural asymmetry has been associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in a previous study in 2016 where specific regions like the Amygdala and the Hippocampus seem to be especially affected3. These findings highlight the role of structural asymmetry in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases in differentiating features of the disease and maybe indicate the progress of degeneration. For this reason we want to investigate this further by assessing volumetric and surface based hemispheric asymmetries in MCI , AD patients and healthy controls using the comprehensive imaging data set form the Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Initiative. 1. Yoon HJ, Kim BS, Jeong JH, Kim GH, Park HK, Chun MY. Asymmetric Amyloid Deposition as an Early Sign of Progression in Mild Cognitive Impairment Due to Alzheimer Disease. Clin Nucl Med. Jul 1 2021;46(7):527-531. doi:10.1097/RLU.0000000000003662 2. Motomura N, Seo T. Lateral hemispheric asymmetries in senile dementia of Alzheimer's type (SDAT) assessed by I-123 IMP SPECT imaging: a preliminary report. Int J Neurosci. Mar 1992;63(1-2):1-3. doi:10.3109/00207459208986655 3. Wachinger C, Salat DH, Weiner M, Reuter M, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging I. Whole-brain analysis reveals increased neuroanatomical asymmetries in dementia for hippocampus and amygdala. Brain. Dec 2016;139(Pt 12):3253-3266. doi:10.1093/brain/aww243 |
| Additional Investigators |
