Neuroimaging Methods for MRI Analysis in CSF Biomarkers Studies

Abstract

Among others, the existence of pathophysiological biomarkers such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ-42, t-tau, and p-tau preceding the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD) symptomatology have shifted the conceptualization of AD as a continuum. In addition, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables the study of structural and functional cross-sectional correlates and longitudinal changes in vivo and, therefore, the combination of CSF data and imaging analyses emerges as a synergistic approach to understand the structural correlates related with specific AD-related biomarkers. In this chapter, we describe the methods used in neuroimaging that will allow researchers to combine data on CSF metabolites with imaging analyses.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Functional MRI; Imaging biomarkers; Magnetic resonance imaging; ROI-based analysis; Structural and functional connectivity; Voxel-based morphology.