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Right Hemisphere Recruitment During Language Processing in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease

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Abstract

Right hemisphere recruitment of areas homotopical to affected left-sided language areas has classically been described in aphasia following stroke or brain tumors. It may also be a clinically significant mechanism in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In a pooled analysis of previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of a modified version of the Pyramids and Palm Trees test, we probed the language network in 19 patients with primary progressive aphasia (nine semantic (SV) and ten agrammatic variant; neuropathologically confirmed FTLD in three cases to date), 15 patients with AD (14 clinically probable and one neuropathologically definite AD to date), and 37 healthy controls. The upper and lower bank of the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) was affected in AD and the left anterior temporal pole (ATP) in primary progressive aphasia (PPA; mainly driven by SV). In the right hemisphere, the posterior STS showed an activity increase in both patient groups compared with controls. In AD, this activity increase correlated positively with naming accuracy. Both in AD and in PPA, the connection strength between right STS and right ATP was decreased compared with controls and this correlated with naming and comprehension scores, respectively. Only in PPA did the right anterior temporal pole show an activity increase, which correlated negatively with comprehension. Right-hemispheric recruitment and disconnections within the right temporal lobe may affect the degree of aphasia in cortical neurodegenerative disease.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (G.0076.02, G0668.07 to R.V.), K.U.Leuven (OT/04/41, OT/08/056, EF/05/014 to R.V.), and Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid belspo (IUAP P6/29). R.V. is a senior clinical investigator of the FWO and N.N. a postdoctoral fellow of the FWO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Leuven Research Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Natalie Nelissen, Patrick Dupont & Rik Vandenberghe

  2. Psychiatry Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Mathieu Vandenbulcke

  3. Pathology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Thomas Tousseyn

  4. Radiology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Ronald Peeters

  5. Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Rik Vandenberghe

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  1. Natalie Nelissen
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  2. Patrick Dupont
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  3. Mathieu Vandenbulcke
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  4. Thomas Tousseyn
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  6. Rik Vandenberghe
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Correspondence to Rik Vandenberghe.

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Nelissen, N., Dupont, P., Vandenbulcke, M. et al. Right Hemisphere Recruitment During Language Processing in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease. J Mol Neurosci 45, 637–647 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-011-9603-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-011-9603-6

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