Recent evidence suggests that the cerebellum is related to motor and non-motor cognitive functions, and that several coupled cerebro-cerebellar networks exist, including links with the limbic network. Since several limbic structures are affected by Alzheimer pathology, even in the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), we aimed to investigate the cerebral limbic network activity from the perspective of the cerebellum. Twenty patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 18 patients with AD, and 26 healthy controls (HC) were recruited to acquire Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI). We used seed-based approach to construct the cerebro-cerebellar limbic network. Two-sample t-tests were carried out to explore the differences of the cerebellar limbic network connectivity. The first result, a sub-scale network including the bilateral posterior part of the orbitofrontal cortex (POFC) extending to the anterior insular cortex (AIC) and left inferior parietal lobule (L-IPL), showed greater functional connectivity in MCI than in HC and less functional connectivity in AD than in MCI. The location of this sub-scale network was in accordance with components of the ventral attention network. Second, there was decreased functional connectivity to the right mid-cingulate cortex (MCC) in the AD and MCI patient groups relative to the HC group. As the cerebellum is not compromised by Alzheimer pathology in the prodromal stage of AD, this pattern indicates that the sub-scale ventral attention network may play a pivotal role in functional compensation through the coupled cerebro-cerebellar limbic network in MCI, and the cerebellum may be a key node in the modulation of social cognition.

中文翻译：

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AD频谱中改变的小脑小脑边缘网络：静止状态功能磁共振成像研究。

最近的证据表明，小脑与运动和非运动认知功能有关，并且存在几个耦合的脑小脑网络，包括与边缘网络的联系。由于几个边缘结构受阿尔茨海默氏病的影响，即使在阿尔茨海默氏病（AD）的临床前阶段，我们的目的是从小脑的角度研究大脑边缘性网络的活动。招募了20例轻度认知障碍（MCI），18例AD患者和26例健康对照（HC）进行静息状态功能性MRI（rs-fMRI）。我们使用基于种子的方法来构建脑小脑边缘网络。进行了两个样本的t检验，以探讨小脑边缘网络连通性的差异。第一个结果 包括眶额叶皮质的双侧后部（POFC）延伸至前岛皮层（AIC）和左下壁小叶（L-IPL）的亚规模网络显示，MCI中的功能连通性高于HC，功能连通性较低在AD中比在MCI中。该子规模网络的位置与腹侧注意网络的组成部分一致。其次，相对于HC组，AD和MCI患者组与右中扣带回皮质（MCC）的功能连接性降低。由于小脑在AD的前驱阶段不受阿尔茨海默氏病的损害，因此该模式表明，腹下注意力集中网络可能通过MCI中的小脑-边缘神经网络耦合在功能性补偿中起关键作用，