The scientists here applied cortical gradients mapping to resting-state functional MRI data of patients with frontotemporal dementia and healthy controls. In healthy controls, the principal gradient maximally distinguished sensorimotor from default-mode network and the secondary gradient visual from salience network. The secondary gradient, however, showed widespread disruptions impacting the interactions among all networks specifically in bvFTD, while semantic and non-fluent variants exhibited more focal alterations in limbic and sensorimotor networks. These specific cortical gradients' fingerprints could serve as a functional signature for identifying early changes in neurodegenerative diseases or potential compensatory processes.
