Clusterizzazione e decodifica delle alterazioni cerebrali strutturali indotte dalle neuropatologie

This study provides a quantitative meta-analysis of the current VBM findings on brain regions with consistently increased or reduced gray matter concentrations associated with a wide spectrum of neuropathologies. Data were acquired from the BrainMap database and statistically elaborated with the anatomical likelihood estimation technique in order to create a modeled activation map for each experiment in the BrainMap database. The hierarchical clustering of the modeled activation maps have identified two clusters of decrease values and five clusters of increase values with regard to grey matter concentrations. The brain structures constituting the clusters have been decoded by NeuroSynth so as to identify whether or not they could form specific functional networks. The results have shown that the two decrease clusters can be significantly associated with circuits involved in memory processing and in the salience network, respectively. The decoding of the five increase clusters has shown a less homogeneous distribution and a partial overlapping of brain areas. However, networks especially related to the reward circuit, the processing of emotions and the motor execution and control have been fairly recognized. These results suggest that the structural alterations caused by a wide spectrum of neuropathologies might follow a very general pattern of disruption, which largely involves the memory circuits and the salience network, along with compensation strategies primarily based on the reward system as well as on motor and emotional processing.