Brain Networks: Linking Structure and Function in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Researchers have long suspected that neurodegenerative diseases target neural networks. In recent years, new methods have emerged to test these ideas. In healthy living humans, network-based imaging tools have identified a host of large-scale brain systems that reflect both states and traits, predict individual differences in cognitive-emotional function, and focally atrophy in patients with neurodegenerative disease. Emerging brain imaging findings converge with data from cell-based and rodent models to suggest that neurodegeneration marches along networks in a transneuronal, connectivity-driven manner. Further developed, this field may provide tools for detecting presymptomatic disease, estimating prognosis, and monitoring progression. These tools would accelerate the search for effective therapeutics.