Abnormal salience network in normal aging and in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

The salience network (SN) serves to identify salient stimuli and to switch between the central executive network (CEN) and the default‐mode network (DMN), both of which are impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD)/amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). We hypothesized that both the structural and functional organization of the SN and functional interactions between the SN and CEN/DMN are altered in normal aging and in AD/aMCI. Gray matter volume (GMV) and resting‐state functional connectivity (FC) were analyzed from healthy younger (HYC) to older controls (HOC) and from HOC to aMCI and AD patients. All the SN components showed significant differences in the GMV, intranetwork FC, and internetwork FC between the HYC and HOC. Most of the SN components showed differences in the GMV between the HOC and AD and between the aMCI and AD. Compared with the HOC, AD patients exhibited significant differences in intra‐ and internetwork FCs of the SN, whereas aMCI patients demonstrated differences in internetwork FC of the SN. Most of the GMVs and internetwork FCs of the SN and part of the intranetwork FC of the SN were correlated with cognitive differences in older subjects. Our findings suggested that structural and functional impairments of the SN may occur as early as in normal aging and that functional disconnection between the SN and CEN/ DMN may also be associated with both normal aging and disease progression. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3446–3464, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .