HAI Book 2025 - Flipbook - Page 543
Xiao, Yu
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Brain connectivity drives tau distribution while regional
vulnerability drives tau load in Alzheimer9s disease
Yu Xiao1, Vincent Bazinet2, Olof Strandberg1, Justine Hansen6, Golia Shafiei3, Nicola
Spotorno4, Hamid Behjat4, Erik Stomrud4, Ruben Smith4, Sebastian Palmqvist4, Niklas
Mattsson-Carlgren4, Alain Dagher6, Bratislav Misic2, Oskar Hansson4, Jacob Vogel1
1
Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, SciLifeLab, Lund University, Lund, SE
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, CA
3
Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, US
4
Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund,
SE
5
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, SE
6
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, QC, CA
2
Objectives: In Alzheimer9s disease (AD), tau accumulation is thought to be driven by global transneuronal spread,
but selective regional vulnerability likely also plays a role. This study uses computational models to investigate the
interplay between network spread and regional vulnerability in influencing tau spread.
Methods: Regional tau-PET data was collected from n=646 amyloid-´ (A´)-positive elderly participants from the
Swedish BioFINDER-2 study (n=219 unimpaired, 212 MCI, 215 AD). Standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR)
represented tau load (Fig. 1B). SUVRs were converted to
