Differential Network Analyses of Alzheimer’s Disease Identify Early Events in Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology

Figure 1

Sample collection and degenerative processes. This figure shows how different brain regions (EC: entorhinal cortex; HIP: hippocampus; PCC: posterior cingulate cortex; MTG: middle temporal gyrus) get affected with degenerative processes over time. The figure is not drawn to scale. Exactly when each set of degenerative processes (as indicated by the white, yellow, and red colors) begins in the different brain regions and how long they last in each region is unknown. This figure shows the logic used in this analysis—that when tissue is collected at the time shown, the PCC and MTG regions which get affected much later in Alzheimer’s will have initial or very early degenerative processes as compared to the HIP and EC. The late stage processes will slowly dominate the brain region and, therefore, it will be difficult to identify early AD processes with statistical significance in the EC and HIP.