Evaluating Frontoparietal Network Topography for Diagnostic Markers of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Abstract Numerous prospective biomarkers are being studied for their ability to diagnose various stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). High-density electroencephalogram (EEG) methods show promise as an accurate, economical, non-invasive approach to measuring the electrical potentials of brains associated with AD. These event-related potentials (ERPs) may serve as clinically useful biomarkers of AD. Through analysis of secondary data, the present study examined the performance and distribution of N4/P6 ERPs across the frontoparietal network (FPN) using EEG topographic mapping. ERP measures and memory as a function of reaction time (RT) were compared between a group of (N = 63) mild untreated AD patients and a control group of (N = 73) healthy age-matched adults. A concurrent cross-modal associative memory test and 128-channel high-density EEG facilitated data collection. By targeting select frontal and parietal EEG reference channels based on N4/P6 component time windows and positivity; our findings demonstrate statistically significant group variations between controls and patients in N4/P6 peak amplitudes and latencies during cross-modal testing, though there was no interaction effect. Our results also support that the N4 ERP might be stronger than its P6 counterpart as a possible candidate biomarker. We conclude by visually mapping FPN integration existent in healthy controls, yet absent in AD patients during cross-modal memory tasks. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed, as are foundations for future research in exploring processes and strategies that lead to identifying clinically useful biomarkers for the detection and treatment of AD.