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The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study

The aim of the current study is to investigate the integrity of the Mirror Neurons (MN) network in normal aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer disease (AD). Although AD and MCI are considered “cognitive” diseases, there has been increasing recognition of a link between motor functio...

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Autores principales: Farina, Elisabetta, Baglio, Francesca, Pomati, Simone, D'Amico, Alessandra, Campini, Isabella C., Di Tella, Sonia, Belloni, Giulia, Pozzo, Thierry
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5715339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29249956
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00371
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author Farina, Elisabetta
Baglio, Francesca
Pomati, Simone
D'Amico, Alessandra
Campini, Isabella C.
Di Tella, Sonia
Belloni, Giulia
Pozzo, Thierry
author_facet Farina, Elisabetta
Baglio, Francesca
Pomati, Simone
D'Amico, Alessandra
Campini, Isabella C.
Di Tella, Sonia
Belloni, Giulia
Pozzo, Thierry
author_sort Farina, Elisabetta
collection PubMed
description The aim of the current study is to investigate the integrity of the Mirror Neurons (MN) network in normal aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer disease (AD). Although AD and MCI are considered “cognitive” diseases, there has been increasing recognition of a link between motor function and AD. More recently the embodied cognition hypothesis has also been developed: it postulates that a part of cognition results from the coupling between action and perception representations. MN represent a neuronal population which links perception, action, and cognition, therefore we decided to characterize MN functioning in neurodegenerative cognitive decline. Three matched groups of 16 subjects (normal elderly-NE, amnesic MCI with hippocampal atrophy and AD) were evaluated with a focused neuropsychological battery and an fMRI task specifically created to test MN: that comprised of an observation run, where subjects were shown movies of a right hand grasping different objects, and of a motor run, where subjects observed visual pictures of objects oriented to be grasped with the right hand. In NE subjects, the conjunction analysis (comparing fMRI activation during observation and execution), showed the activation of a bilateral fronto-parietal network in “classical” MN areas, and of the superior temporal gyrus (STG). The MCI group showed the activation of areas belonging to the same network, however, parietal areas were activated to a lesser extent and the STG was not activated, while the opposite was true for the right Broca's area. We did not observe any activation of the fronto-parietal network in AD participants. They did not perform as well as the NE subjects in all the neuropsychological tests (including tests of functions attributed to MN) whereas the MCI subjects were significantly different from the NE subjects only in episodic memory and semantic fluency. Here we show that the MN network is largely preserved in aging, while it appears involved following an anterior-posterior gradient in neurodegenerative decline. In AD, task performance decays and the MN network appears clearly deficient. The preservation of the anterior part of the MN network in MCI could possibly supplement the initial decay of the posterior part, preserving cognitive performance.
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spelling pubmed-57153392017-12-15 The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study Farina, Elisabetta Baglio, Francesca Pomati, Simone D'Amico, Alessandra Campini, Isabella C. Di Tella, Sonia Belloni, Giulia Pozzo, Thierry Front Aging Neurosci Neuroscience The aim of the current study is to investigate the integrity of the Mirror Neurons (MN) network in normal aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer disease (AD). Although AD and MCI are considered “cognitive” diseases, there has been increasing recognition of a link between motor function and AD. More recently the embodied cognition hypothesis has also been developed: it postulates that a part of cognition results from the coupling between action and perception representations. MN represent a neuronal population which links perception, action, and cognition, therefore we decided to characterize MN functioning in neurodegenerative cognitive decline. Three matched groups of 16 subjects (normal elderly-NE, amnesic MCI with hippocampal atrophy and AD) were evaluated with a focused neuropsychological battery and an fMRI task specifically created to test MN: that comprised of an observation run, where subjects were shown movies of a right hand grasping different objects, and of a motor run, where subjects observed visual pictures of objects oriented to be grasped with the right hand. In NE subjects, the conjunction analysis (comparing fMRI activation during observation and execution), showed the activation of a bilateral fronto-parietal network in “classical” MN areas, and of the superior temporal gyrus (STG). The MCI group showed the activation of areas belonging to the same network, however, parietal areas were activated to a lesser extent and the STG was not activated, while the opposite was true for the right Broca's area. We did not observe any activation of the fronto-parietal network in AD participants. They did not perform as well as the NE subjects in all the neuropsychological tests (including tests of functions attributed to MN) whereas the MCI subjects were significantly different from the NE subjects only in episodic memory and semantic fluency. Here we show that the MN network is largely preserved in aging, while it appears involved following an anterior-posterior gradient in neurodegenerative decline. In AD, task performance decays and the MN network appears clearly deficient. The preservation of the anterior part of the MN network in MCI could possibly supplement the initial decay of the posterior part, preserving cognitive performance. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC5715339/ /pubmed/29249956 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00371 Text en Copyright © 2017 Farina, Baglio, Pomati, D'Amico, Campini, Di Tella, Belloni and Pozzo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Farina, Elisabetta
Baglio, Francesca
Pomati, Simone
D'Amico, Alessandra
Campini, Isabella C.
Di Tella, Sonia
Belloni, Giulia
Pozzo, Thierry
The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title_full The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title_fullStr The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title_full_unstemmed The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title_short The Mirror Neurons Network in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer Disease: A functional MRI Study
title_sort mirror neurons network in aging, mild cognitive impairment, and alzheimer disease: a functional mri study
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5715339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29249956
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00371
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