Gray matter and white matter functional connectivity changes induced by rTMS concurrent with cognitive training in Alzheimer’s disease

作者：Jicheng Fang, Yan Shi, Li Ba, Min Zhang, Muwei Li, Ning Zheng, Yuanyuan Qin, Wenzhen Zhu · 发表于：Brain Research Bulletin · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.brainresbull.2025.111418 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies、Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Background and Purpose Primarily by targeting the gray matter (GM), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown promise in improving cognitive function in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the impact of rTMS on white matter (WM) remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) changes in both GM and WM induced by rTMS, and explore their relationship with the clinical manifestation of the disease. Methods Sixteen patients with mild to moderate AD were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the real rTMS group (n = 8) or the sham treatment group (n = 8). Both groups received cognitive training in combination with rTMS. The real rTMS group received 10 Hz stimulation targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) followed by the left lateral temporal lobe (LTL), with each session lasting 20 minutes per day for 4 weeks, while sham with the coil positioned at a 90° angle. Resting-state BOLD signals were averaged to generate mean time series for each of the 82 GM regions and 48 WM bundles, both before and after treatment for each subject. We analyzed the resting-state fMRI data by using a 2 × 2 factorial design with “time” as the within-subjects factor and “group” as the between-subjects factor. Results In the analysis of 82 GM regions, when using left LTL as the seed, significant time main effect was observed in right ventral Posterior cingulate cortex (vPCC) (F=9.356, p=0.009, η 2 =0.401) a...