Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice ›› 2025, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (10): 1156-1163.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-9771.2025.10.006

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Regional differences in brain activation after music intervention for Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging

YANG Sanxia1(), LIU Qingluan2, WAN Jiamin1   

  1. 1. College of Arts, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
    2. College of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
  • Received:2025-06-13 Revised:2025-09-07 Published:2025-10-25 Online:2025-11-10
  • Contact: YANG Sanxia, E-mail: 258278010@qq.com
  • Supported by:
    Key Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences Research of Hubei Provincial Department of Education(23D039)

Abstract:

Objective To systematically investigate the impact of music intervention on neuroplasticity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Methods PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang data and VIP were searched for studies published up to February, 2025. They were analysed using GingerALE 3.0.2 for meta-analysis.
Results Five fMRI studies were included, involving 134 participants (99 with AD). A total of 49 activation coordinates were extracted. The main activation regions in the healthy group were concentrated in the left precuneus, the right inferior frontal gyrus and the right superior temporal gyrus, while the primary activated regions in AD group shifted to the right operculum and adjacent right insula, left superior frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and left superior temporal gyrus, indicating that during music processing, neural activation patterns in AD patients shifted from higher-order associative cortices to subcortical structures, accompanied by compensatory changes in frontal lobe activation and a loss of activation in the parietal lobe, particularly in the precuneus.
Conclusion Music intervention can activate the relatively preserved subcortical-limbic system in patients with AD and promote compensatory reorganization of the frontal lobes.

Key words: Alzheimer's disease, music therapy, neuroplasticity, functional magnetic resonance imaging, meta-analysis

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