OSCR

Cortical synchrony is reduced in Alzheimer's disease and relates to arousal state.

Overview

Authors: Michael C. B. David1,2, Emma‐Jane Mallas1,2, Magdalena A. Kolanko1,2, Martina Del Giovane1,2, Danielle L. Kurtin2,3, Ramin Nilforooshan1,4, Karl A. Zimmerman1,2, Cristina Bonet Olivares2, Peter J. Lally1,2, CR&T Group of UKDRI1, David J. Sharp1,2, Paresh A. Malhotra1,2, Gregory Scott1,2
ORCID iDs: Emma‐Jane Mallas, Gregory Scott
  1. UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology Centre Imperial College London London UK
  2. Imperial College London, Brain Sciences London UK
  3. Division of Psychiatry Imperial College London London UK
  4. Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Leatherhead UK
Institutions: UK Dementia Research Institute (United Kingdom); Imperial College London (United Kingdom); Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (United Kingdom)
Journal: Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, volume 22, issue 6, article e71547
Dates: received 26 December 2025; accepted 29 April 2026; published online 11 June 2026; in print June 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1002/alz.71547 · PMID 42273876 · PMCID PMC13254816 · OpenAlex W7164384369
Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: fMRI (modality), other (modality), human (organism), other condition (population), Alzheimer's / dementia (population)
Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Connectivity, Statistics, fMRI & imaging, Physiology & signal measures
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, arousal, locus coeruleus, cognition, fMRI, pupillometry, LEiDA, synchrony, metastability, criticality
MeSH: Alzheimer Disease*, Arousal*, Cerebral Cortex*, Cortical Synchronization*, Locus Coeruleus*, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Melanins, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Pupil (* major topic)
Topic: Functional Brain Connectivity Studies (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Medical Research Council; Alzheimer's Society; National Institute for Health and Care Research
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 107 references in the paper

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The brain is a complex dynamical system, influenced by arousal state. Cortical synchrony supports information processing and is disrupted in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Locus coeruleus (LC) integrity and pupillometry index arousal system structure and function.

METHODS: Sixty‐four AD and 26 controls underwent resting‐state pupillometry‐fMRI. Neuromelanin MRI and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination were conducted. Mean and standard deviation of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) phase coherence yielded synchrony and metastability, respectively. Leading Eigenvector Dynamics Analysis (LEiDA) produced coherence‐based states.

RESULTS: AD had reduced global synchrony [b = −0.90, p < 0.001], metastability [b = −0.61, p < 0.01], LEiDA “global coherence state” occupancy [b = −0.06, p < 0.01], and LC integrity [b = −0.37, p = 0.01]. Synchrony [b = 0.19, p = 0.01] and LC integrity [b = 0.17, p < 0.01] related to cognition and one another [b = 0.27, p = 0.01]. Pupil‐linked arousal correlated with synchrony and global coherence state maintenance.

DISCUSSION: In health, cortical activity shows widespread but dynamic synchrony across regions to meet changing demands. In AD, arousal dysfunction appears to disrupt these dynamics, impacting cognition.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data availability statement

Data and code including pupil pre‐processing pipeline are available upon reasonable request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 13 authors, 10 keywords, 15 MeSH terms, 3 funders, 104 references.

Cite

This paper

David, M. C. B., Mallas, E., Kolanko, M. A., Del Giovane, M., Kurtin, D. L., Nilforooshan, R., Zimmerman, K. A., Bonet Olivares, C., Lally, P. J., CR&T Group of UKDRI, Sharp, D. J., Malhotra, P. A., & Scott, G. (2026). Cortical synchrony is reduced in Alzheimer's disease and relates to arousal state. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 22(6), e71547. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71547

BibTeX

@article{david2026cortical,
author = {David, Michael C. B. and Mallas, Emma‐Jane and Kolanko, Magdalena A. and Del Giovane, Martina and Kurtin, Danielle L. and Nilforooshan, Ramin and Zimmerman, Karl A. and Bonet Olivares, Cristina and Lally, Peter J. and {CR\&T Group of UKDRI} and Sharp, David J. and Malhotra, Paresh A. and Scott, Gregory},
title = {{Cortical synchrony is reduced in Alzheimer's disease and relates to arousal state}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
volume = {22},
number = {6},
pages = {e71547},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {1552-5260},
doi = {10.1002/alz.71547},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71547},
pmid = {42273876},
pmcid = {PMC13254816}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - David, Michael C. B.
AU - Mallas, Emma‐Jane
AU - Kolanko, Magdalena A.
AU - Del Giovane, Martina
AU - Kurtin, Danielle L.
AU - Nilforooshan, Ramin
AU - Zimmerman, Karl A.
AU - Bonet Olivares, Cristina
AU - Lally, Peter J.
AU - CR&T Group of UKDRI
AU - Sharp, David J.
AU - Malhotra, Paresh A.
AU - Scott, Gregory
TI - Cortical synchrony is reduced in Alzheimer's disease and relates to arousal state
T2 - Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association
J2 - Alzheimers Dement
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/01
VL - 22
IS - 6
SP - e71547
SN - 1552-5260
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/alz.71547
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71547
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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