Altered resting state functional connectivity of the hippocampus and thalamus in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: an fMRI study

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is sometimes preceded by a stage known as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which is characterised by memory deficits abnormal for age in the absence of dementia. Although not in itself a diagnostic entity, because individuals with aMCI are at a greatly increased risk of developing AD there is an interest in characterising brain changes associated with the syndrome as compared to healthy ageing. In the current study we investigated the resting state functional connectivity (FC) of two important subcortical brain structures, the hippocampus and thalamus using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of 15 aMCI subjects and 16 healthy controls (HC). The groups were matched for age, gender and education level. Compared to the HC, the aMCI group showed significantly reduced FC of the hippocampus and thalamus to a number of brain regions (p