Decreased cholinergic nucleus 4 basal forebrain density is associated with disease progression in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Density of the cholinergic nuclei of the basal forebrain has been shown to be associated with disease and symptom progression in Parkinson’s Disease. This project was aimed at determining if there is a similar effect of these brain regions in predicting cognitive impairment and disease progression in Alzheimer’s Disease. By using a longitudinal multicenter dataset of Alzheimer's patients in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), we analyzed the relationship between grey matter density of cholinergic basal forebrain and disease progression. We demonstrated that patients with increased disease severity had significantly lower density in the cholinergic nuclei of the basal forebrain.