Connectivity of Basal Ganglia and Cerebral Cortex in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Session Number
Project ID: MEDH 26
Advisor(s)
Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour MD; Northwestern University
Discipline
Medical and Health Sciences
Start Date
22-4-2020 10:05 AM
End Date
22-4-2020 10:20 AM
Abstract
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a neurological syndrome in which there is an eventual loss of language control, is the result of degeneration of the left lateralized language network. Structural neuroimaging studies have discovered the major sites of atrophy in each of the subtypes: PPA-G (aggramtic), PPA-L (logopenic), PPA-S (semantic). Functional imaging techniques have also been helpful in revealing patterns of language network abnormalities, so that metabolism in regions of interest can be analyzed. Resting state fMRI is utilized because it is sensitive to polysynaptic pathways in the brain and helps explore the anatomy and connectivity of neurocognitive networks. However, there has been a paucity of research studies investigating the role of basal ganglia in PPA. Basal ganglia has only recently been shown to be affected by the underlying causes of PPA in cases. Therefore, the current study used these imaging techniques to examine the connectivity between basal ganglia and the cerebral cortical regions involved in language processing in [all variants] of PPA. The patients that were included in this study were first clinically classified to be a variant of PPA through behavioral analyses. Therefore, the study compares patients of all three variants of PPA and non-affected healthy individuals and identifies the differences in basal ganglia and cortical connectivity in variants of PPA and their correlation with specified symptoms.
Connectivity of Basal Ganglia and Cerebral Cortex in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a neurological syndrome in which there is an eventual loss of language control, is the result of degeneration of the left lateralized language network. Structural neuroimaging studies have discovered the major sites of atrophy in each of the subtypes: PPA-G (aggramtic), PPA-L (logopenic), PPA-S (semantic). Functional imaging techniques have also been helpful in revealing patterns of language network abnormalities, so that metabolism in regions of interest can be analyzed. Resting state fMRI is utilized because it is sensitive to polysynaptic pathways in the brain and helps explore the anatomy and connectivity of neurocognitive networks. However, there has been a paucity of research studies investigating the role of basal ganglia in PPA. Basal ganglia has only recently been shown to be affected by the underlying causes of PPA in cases. Therefore, the current study used these imaging techniques to examine the connectivity between basal ganglia and the cerebral cortical regions involved in language processing in [all variants] of PPA. The patients that were included in this study were first clinically classified to be a variant of PPA through behavioral analyses. Therefore, the study compares patients of all three variants of PPA and non-affected healthy individuals and identifies the differences in basal ganglia and cortical connectivity in variants of PPA and their correlation with specified symptoms.