Rich-Club Connectivity of the Structural Covariance Network Relates to Memory Processes in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Though mediotemporal lobe volume changes are well-known features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), grey matter volume changes may be distributed throughout the brain. These distributed changes are not independent due to the underlying network structure and can be described in terms of a structural covariance network (SCN). OBJECTIVE: To investigate how the cortical brain organization is altered in AD we studied the mutual connectivity of hubs in the SCN, i.e., the rich-club. METHODS: To construct the SCNs, cortical thickness was obtained from structural MRI for 97 participants (normal cognition, n = 37; mild cognitive impairment, n = 41; Alzheimer-type dementia, n = 19). Subsequently, rich-club coefficients were calculated from the SCN, and related to memory performance and hippocampal volume using linear regression. RESULTS: Lower rich-club connectivity was related to lower memory performance as well as lower hippocampal volume. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study provides novel evidence of reduced connectivity in hub areas in relation to AD-related cognitive impairments and atrophy.