Disruption of temporo-parietal network in Alzheimer’s disease and its association with memory impairment

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterised by the accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau proteins, resulting in neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Although Aβ and tau disrupt synaptic function, the association linking these molecular pathologies to network-level dysfunction and memory impairment remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of Aβ and tau pathology (CSF Aβ42/40 ratio and tau phosphorylated at position 181, p-tau-181, respectively) on effective connectivity related to memory encoding, which may provide a link between synaptic pathology and cognitive outcomes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during visual memory encoding was acquired from 205 participants in the multicentric DZNE Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study (DELCODE) across the AD spectrum. Effective connectivity was assessed using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) of task-fMRI data, focusing on the parahippocampal place area (PPA), hippocampus (HC), and precuneus (PCU)—regions central to memory encoding. Disruptions in connectivity between temporal and parietal lobes were associated with both memory impairment and indices of AD pathology. Specifically, reduced positive effective connectivity from the PCU to the PPA and from the HC to the PCU were linked to higher p-tau-181 levels, with an amplification effect observed in the presence of amyloid accumulation for the latter connectivity. The disruption from the PCU to the PPA was found to be associated with decreased memory performance. Together, these findings indicate that temporo-parietal connectivity is associated with both AD molecular pathology and, for a subset of connections, with memory performance.