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Young T, Kumar VJ, Saranathan M. Normative modeling of thalamic nuclear volumes. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.03.06.24303871. [PMID: 38496426 PMCID: PMC10942522 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.06.24303871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2024]
Abstract
Thalamic nuclei have been implicated in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Normative models for thalamic nuclear volumes have not been proposed thus far. The aim of this work was to establish normative models of thalamic nuclear volumes and subsequently investigate changes in thalamic nuclei in cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Volumes of the bilateral thalami and 12 nuclear regions were generated from T1 MRI data using a novel segmentation method (HIPS-THOMAS) in healthy control subjects (n=2374) and non-control subjects (n=695) with early and late mild cognitive impairment (EMCI, LMCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Early psychosis and Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Three different normative modelling methods were evaluated while controlling for sex, intracranial volume, and site. Z-scores and extreme z-score deviations were calculated and compared across phenotypes. GAMLSS models performed the best. Statistically significant shifts in z-score distributions consistent with atrophy were observed for most phenotypes. Shifts of progressively increasing magnitude were observed bilaterally from EMCI to AD with larger shifts in the left thalamic regions. Heterogeneous shifts were observed in psychiatric diagnoses with a predilection for the right thalamic regions. Here we present the first normative models of thalamic nuclear volumes and highlight their utility in evaluating heterogenous disorders such as Schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor Young
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
| | | | - Manojkumar Saranathan
- Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
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Tekin A, Rende B, Efendi H, Bunul SD, Çakır Ö, Çolak T, Balcı S. Volumetric and Asymmetric Index Analysis of Subcortical Structures in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Retrospective Study Using volBrain Software. Cureus 2024; 16:e55799. [PMID: 38590495 PMCID: PMC10999780 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.55799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and autoimmune disease that has a significant influence on the central nervous system, such as the brain and spinal cord, affecting millions of individuals globally. Understanding the connection between subcortical brain regions and MS is crucial for effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for treating this disabling disease. This study explores the relationship between volume and contours of asymmetry index of subcortical brain regions in individuals with MS using volBrain software (https://www.volbrain.net; developed by José V. Manjón (Valencia Polytechnic University, Valencia, Spain) and Pierrick Coupé (University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France)). Methods In our retrospective investigation, we admitted 100 Turkish individuals, comprising 50 patients diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) (24 (48%) males and 26 (52%) females) and 50 healthy controls (23 (46%) males and 27 (54%) females), registered between October 2017 and February 2022 for five years and underwent assessment in the radiology department at the Teaching and Research Hospital of Kocaeli University; 1,150 Turkish patients were excluded from our study based on our exclusion criteria. We used magnetic resonance imaging with a 3-Tesla (3T) scanner and volBrain software to assess volumes (cm3) and asymmetry indexes due to asymmetry for different levels of atrophy of total intracranial, total brain, gray matter, white matter, and subcortical regions, the most affected regions in MS patients for both patient and control cohorts. Results Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between patient and control groups (p < 0.001), with patient group mean age at 38.32 years and control group mean age at 32.88 years. Patient group exhibited lower values for total intracranial, total brain, gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid volume compared to control group (p < 0.05). The results indicated a statistically significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the values for total intracranial and total brain volume, whereas all other values remained unchanged. We compared volumes of subcortical structures on the right and left sides and found that the putamen, thalamus, and globus pallidus had statistically lower values in the patient group than in the control group (p < 0.001), apart from the lateral ventricle. Furthermore, our retrospective investigation demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the globus pallidus asymmetry index, indicating a preference for the patient group (p < 0.05). A lower asymmetry index value signifies a larger volume for the right side of the subcortical regions of the brain when compared to the left side. Conclusion Brain atrophy, although characterized by irreversible tissue damage, is targeted by therapeutic interventions to prevent progression. It is, therefore, imperative to develop a universally accepted measurement standard for subcortical structures that also considers the inherent variability present within each structure. Our findings serve as an important basis and indicator for the determination of subcortical atrophy and asymmetry in MS, the prognosis of the disease, and the etiology of clinical symptoms. Subsequent research may benefit by adopting the novel approach of considering brain atrophy as an outcome rather than a predictor, thereby facilitating the elucidation of the intricate biological mechanisms that give rise to volume loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayla Tekin
- Anatomy, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, TUR
| | - Buket Rende
- Anatomy, European Vocational School, Kocaeli Health and Technology University, Kocaeli, TUR
| | | | | | | | - Tuncay Çolak
- Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, TUR
| | - Sibel Balcı
- Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, TUR
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Shah SN, Dounavi ME, Malhotra PA, Lawlor B, Naci L, Koychev I, Ritchie CW, Ritchie K, O’Brien JT. Dementia risk and thalamic nuclei volumetry in healthy midlife adults: the PREVENT Dementia study. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae046. [PMID: 38444908 PMCID: PMC10914447 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
A reduction in the volume of the thalamus and its nuclei has been reported in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment and asymptomatic individuals with risk factors for early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Some studies have reported thalamic atrophy to occur prior to hippocampal atrophy, suggesting thalamic pathology may be an early sign of cognitive decline. We aimed to investigate volumetric differences in thalamic nuclei in middle-aged, cognitively unimpaired people with respect to dementia family history and apolipoprotein ε4 allele carriership and the relationship with cognition. Seven hundred participants aged 40-59 years were recruited into the PREVENT Dementia study. Individuals were stratified according to dementia risk (approximately half with and without parental dementia history). The subnuclei of the thalamus of 645 participants were segmented on T1-weighted 3 T MRI scans using FreeSurfer 7.1.0. Thalamic nuclei were grouped into six regions: (i) anterior, (ii) lateral, (iii) ventral, (iv) intralaminar, (v) medial and (vi) posterior. Cognitive performance was evaluated using the computerized assessment of the information-processing battery. Robust linear regression was used to analyse differences in thalamic nuclei volumes and their association with cognitive performance, with age, sex, total intracranial volume and years of education as covariates and false discovery rate correction for multiple comparisons. We did not find significant volumetric differences in the thalamus or its subregions, which survived false discovery rate correction, with respect to first-degree family history of dementia or apolipoprotein ε4 allele status. Greater age was associated with smaller volumes of thalamic subregions, except for the medial thalamus, but only in those without a dementia family history. A larger volume of the mediodorsal medial nucleus (Pfalse discovery rate = 0.019) was associated with a faster processing speed in those without a dementia family history. Larger volumes of the thalamus (P = 0.016) and posterior thalamus (Pfalse discovery rate = 0.022) were associated with significantly worse performance in the immediate recall test in apolipoprotein ε4 allele carriers. We did not find significant volumetric differences in thalamic subregions in relation to dementia risk but did identify an interaction between dementia family history and age. Larger medial thalamic nuclei may exert a protective effect on cognitive performance in individuals without a dementia family history but have little effect on those with a dementia family history. Larger volumes of posterior thalamic nuclei were associated with worse recall in apolipoprotein ε4 carriers. Our results could represent initial dysregulation in the disease process; further study is needed with functional imaging and longitudinal analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sita N Shah
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Maria-Eleni Dounavi
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Paresh A Malhotra
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology Centre, Imperial College London and the University of Surrey, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Brian Lawlor
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin D02 PX31, Ireland
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin D02 X9W9, Ireland
| | - Lorina Naci
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin D02 PX31, Ireland
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin D02 X9W9, Ireland
| | - Ivan Koychev
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Craig W Ritchie
- Centre for Dementia Prevention, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Karen Ritchie
- Institute de Neurosciences de Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier 34093, France
| | - John T O’Brien
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
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Loreto F, Verdi S, Kia SM, Duvnjak A, Hakeem H, Fitzgerald A, Patel N, Lilja J, Win Z, Perry R, Marquand AF, Cole JH, Malhotra P. Alzheimer's disease heterogeneity revealed by neuroanatomical normative modeling. ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA (AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS) 2024; 16:e12559. [PMID: 38487076 PMCID: PMC10937817 DOI: 10.1002/dad2.12559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Overlooking the heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may lead to diagnostic delays and failures. Neuroanatomical normative modeling captures individual brain variation and may inform our understanding of individual differences in AD-related atrophy. METHODS We applied neuroanatomical normative modeling to magnetic resonance imaging from a real-world clinical cohort with confirmed AD (n = 86). Regional cortical thickness was compared to a healthy reference cohort (n = 33,072) and the number of outlying regions was summed (total outlier count) and mapped at individual- and group-levels. RESULTS The superior temporal sulcus contained the highest proportion of outliers (60%). Elsewhere, overlap between patient atrophy patterns was low. Mean total outlier count was higher in patients who were non-amnestic, at more advanced disease stages, and without depressive symptoms. Amyloid burden was negatively associated with outlier count. DISCUSSION Brain atrophy in AD is highly heterogeneous and neuroanatomical normative modeling can be used to explore anatomo-clinical correlations in individual patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavia Loreto
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
| | - Serena Verdi
- Centre for Medical Image ComputingMedical Physics and Biomedical EngineeringUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Dementia Research CentreUCL Queen Square Institute of NeurologyLondonUK
| | - Seyed Mostafa Kia
- Donders Centre for Cognitive NeuroimagingDonders Institute for BrainCognition and BehaviourRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive NeuroscienceRadboud University Medical CentreNijmegenThe Netherlands
- Department of PsychiatryUtrecht University Medical CenterUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Aleksandar Duvnjak
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
| | - Haneen Hakeem
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
| | - Anna Fitzgerald
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
| | - Neva Patel
- Department of Nuclear MedicineImperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondonUK
| | | | - Zarni Win
- Department of Nuclear MedicineImperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondonUK
| | - Richard Perry
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
- Department of NeurologyImperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondonUK
| | - Andre F. Marquand
- Donders Centre for Cognitive NeuroimagingDonders Institute for BrainCognition and BehaviourRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive NeuroscienceRadboud University Medical CentreNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - James H. Cole
- Centre for Medical Image ComputingMedical Physics and Biomedical EngineeringUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Dementia Research CentreUCL Queen Square Institute of NeurologyLondonUK
| | - Paresh Malhotra
- Department of Brain SciencesFaculty of MedicineImperial College LondonLondonUK
- Department of NeurologyImperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondonUK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology CentreImperial College London and the University of SurreyLondonUK
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Sagalajev B, Lennartz L, Vieth L, Gunawan CT, Neumaier B, Drzezga A, Visser-Vandewalle V, Endepols H, Sesia T. TgF344-AD Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease: Spatial Disorientation and Asymmetry in Hemispheric Neurodegeneration. J Alzheimers Dis Rep 2023; 7:1085-1094. [PMID: 37849636 PMCID: PMC10578321 DOI: 10.3233/adr-230038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The TgF344-AD ratline represents a transgenic animal model of Alzheimer's disease. We previously reported spatial memory impairment in TgF344-AD rats, yet the underlying mechanism remained unknown. We, therefore, set out to determine if spatial memory impairment in TgF344-AD rats is attributed to spatial disorientation. Also, we aimed to investigate whether TgF344-AD rats exhibit signs of asymmetry in hemispheric neurodegeneration, similar to what is reported in spatially disoriented AD patients. Finally, we sought to examine how spatial disorientation correlates with working memory performance. Methods TgF344-AD rats were divided into two groups balanced by sex and genotype. The first group underwent the delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task for the assessment of spatial orientation and working memory, while the second group underwent positron emission tomography (PET) for the assessment of glucose metabolism and microglial activity as in-vivo markers of neurodegeneration. Rats were 13 months old during DMS training and 14-16 months old during DMS testing and PET. Results In the DMS task, TgF344-AD rats were more likely than their wild-type littermates to display strong preference for one of the two levers, preventing working memory testing. Rats without lever-preference showed similar working memory, regardless of their genotype. PET revealed hemispherically asymmetric clusters of increased microglial activity and altered glucose metabolism in TgF344-AD rats. Conclusions TgF344-AD rats display spatial disorientation and hemispherically asymmetrical neurodegeneration, suggesting a potential causal relationship consistent with past clinical research. In rats with preserved spatial orientation, working memory remains intact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boriss Sagalajev
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany
- European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Lina Lennartz
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany
- European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Lukas Vieth
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Institute of Radiochemistry and Experimental Molecular Imaging, Cologne, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Nuclear Chemistry (INM-5), Jülich, Germany
| | - Cecilia Tasya Gunawan
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany
- European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Bernd Neumaier
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Institute of Radiochemistry and Experimental Molecular Imaging, Cologne, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Nuclear Chemistry (INM-5), Jülich, Germany
| | - Alexander Drzezga
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cologne, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Molecular Organization of the Brain (INM-2), Jülich, Germany
| | - Veerle Visser-Vandewalle
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany
- European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Heike Endepols
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Institute of Radiochemistry and Experimental Molecular Imaging, Cologne, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Nuclear Chemistry (INM-5), Jülich, Germany
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Thibaut Sesia
- University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany
- European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, Netherlands
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Mundorf A, Ocklenburg S. Hemispheric asymmetries in mental disorders: evidence from rodent studies. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2023; 130:1153-1165. [PMID: 36842091 PMCID: PMC10460727 DOI: 10.1007/s00702-023-02610-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
The brain is built with hemispheric asymmetries in structure and function to enable fast neuronal processing. In neuroimaging studies, several mental disorders have been associated with altered or attenuated hemispheric asymmetries. However, the exact mechanism linking asymmetries and disorders is not known. Here, studies in animal models of mental disorders render important insights into the etiology and neuronal alterations associated with both disorders and atypical asymmetry. In this review, the current literature of animal studies in rats and mice focusing on anxiety and fear, anhedonia and despair, addiction or substance misuse, neurodegenerative disorders as well as stress exposure, and atypical hemispheric asymmetries is summarized. Results indicate overall increased right-hemispheric neuronal activity and a left-sided behavioral bias associated with symptoms of anxiety, fear, anhedonia, behavioral despair as well as stress exposure. Addiction behavior is associated with right-sided bias and transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease indicate an asymmetrical accumulation of fibrillar plaques. Most studies focused on changes in the bilateral amygdala and frontal cortex. Across studies, two crucial factors influencing atypical asymmetries arose independently of the disorder modeled: sex and developmental age. In conclusion, animal models of mental disorders demonstrate atypical hemispheric asymmetries similar to findings in patients. Particularly, increased left-sided behavior and greater right-hemispheric activity were found across models applying stress-based paradigms. However, sex- and age-dependent effects on atypical hemispheric asymmetries are present that require further investigation. Animal models enable the analysis of hemispheric changes on the molecular level which may be most effective to detect early alterations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annakarina Mundorf
- Institute for Systems Medicine and Department of Human Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- ICAN Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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Karaca O, Tepe N, Ozcan E. Evaluation of volumetric asymmetry of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe in Alzheimer's disease using the atlas-based method. Neuroreport 2023; 34:592-597. [PMID: 37384935 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Brain areas affected during neurodegenerative disease progression are considered anatomically connected to the first affected areas. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has connections with the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which includes regions that become atrophic in Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the degree of volumetric asymmetry of DLPFC and MTL structures. This is a cross-sectional volumetric study involving 25 Alzheimer's disease patients and 25 healthy adults who underwent MRI with a 3D turbo spin echo sequence at 1.5 Tesla. The atlas-based method incorporated MRIStudio software to automatically measure the volume of brain structures. We compared the asymmetry index and volumetric changes across study groups and correlated them with Mini-Mental State Examination scores. We observed significant volumetric rightward lateralization in the DLPFC and superior frontal gyrus in Alzheimer's disease patients compared to the healthy controls. There was a significant volume loss in the MTL structures of Alzheimer's disease patients. Atrophy of MTL structures was positively correlated with right DLPFC volume changes in Alzheimer's disease patients. Volumetric asymmetry of the DLPFC may be a characteristic for determining disease progression in Alzheimer's disease patients. Future studies are recommended to evaluate whether these volumetric asymmetrical changes are specific to Alzheimer's disease and whether asymmetry measurements can serve as diagnostic markers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nermin Tepe
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Balikesir University, Balikesir, Turkey
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Holtzer R, Choi J, Motl RW, Foley FW, Picone MA, Lipton ML, Izzetoglu M, Hernandez M, Wagshul ME. Individual reserve in aging and neurological disease. J Neurol 2023; 270:3179-3191. [PMID: 36906731 PMCID: PMC10008128 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-023-11656-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2022] [Revised: 02/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Cognitive and physical functions correlate and delineate aging and disease trajectories. Whereas cognitive reserve (CR) is well-established, physical reserve (PR) is poorly understood. We, therefore, developed and evaluated a novel and more comprehensive construct, individual reserve (IR), comprised of residual-derived CR and PR in older adults with and without multiple sclerosis (MS). We hypothesized that: (a) CR and PR would be positively correlated; (b) low CR, PR, and IR would be associated with worse study outcomes; (c) associations of brain atrophy with study outcomes would be stronger in lower compared to higher IR due to compensatory mechanisms conferred by the latter. METHODS Older adults with MS (n = 66, mean age = 64.48 ± 3.84 years) and controls (n = 66, mean age = 68.20 ± 6.09 years), underwent brain MRI, cognitive assessment, and motoric testing. We regressed the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status and short physical performance battery on brain pathology and socio-demographic confounders to derive independent residual CR and PR measures, respectively. We combined CR and PR to define a 4-level IR variable. The oral symbol digit modalities test (SDMT) and timed-25-foot-walk-test (T25FW) served as outcome measures. RESULTS CR and PR were positively correlated. Low CR, PR and IR were associated with worse SDMT and T25FW performances. Reduced left thalamic volume, a marker of brain atrophy, was associated with poor SDMT and T25FW performances only in individuals with low IR. The presence of MS moderated associations between IR and T25FW performance. CONCLUSION IR is a novel construct comprised of cognitive and physical dimensions representing collective within-person reserve capacities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roee Holtzer
- Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
- Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA.
| | - Jaeun Choi
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Robert W Motl
- Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Frederick W Foley
- Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA
- Multiple Sclerosis Center, Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, NJ, USA
| | - Mary Ann Picone
- Multiple Sclerosis Center, Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, NJ, USA
| | - Michael L Lipton
- Department of Radiology, Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
- Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Meltem Izzetoglu
- Villanova University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Villanova, PA, USA
| | - Manuel Hernandez
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Mark E Wagshul
- Department of Radiology, Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
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Forno G, Saranathan M, Contador J, Guillen N, Falgàs N, Tort-Merino A, Balasa M, Sanchez-Valle R, Hornberger M, Lladó A. Thalamic nuclei changes in early and late onset Alzheimer's disease. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2023.100084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
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Choi EY, Tian L, Su JH, Radovan MT, Tourdias T, Tran TT, Trelle AN, Mormino E, Wagner AD, Rutt BK. Thalamic nuclei atrophy at high and heterogenous rates during cognitively unimpaired human aging. Neuroimage 2022; 262:119584. [PMID: 36007822 PMCID: PMC9787236 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The thalamus is a central integration structure in the brain, receiving and distributing information among the cerebral cortex, subcortical structures, and the peripheral nervous system. Prior studies clearly show that the thalamus atrophies in cognitively unimpaired aging. However, the thalamus is comprised of multiple nuclei involved in a wide range of functions, and the age-related atrophy of individual thalamic nuclei remains unknown. Using a recently developed automated method of identifying thalamic nuclei (3T or 7T MRI with white-matter-nulled MPRAGE contrast and THOMAS segmentation) and a cross-sectional design, we evaluated the age-related atrophy rate for 10 thalamic nuclei (AV, CM, VA, VLA, VLP, VPL, pulvinar, LGN, MGN, MD) and an epithalamic nucleus (habenula). We also used T1-weighted images with the FreeSurfer SAMSEG segmentation method to identify and measure age-related atrophy for 11 extra-thalamic structures (cerebral cortex, cerebral white matter, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, amygdala, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, pallidum, and lateral ventricle). In 198 cognitively unimpaired participants with ages spanning 20-88 years, we found that the whole thalamus atrophied at a rate of 0.45% per year, and that thalamic nuclei had widely varying age-related atrophy rates, ranging from 0.06% to 1.18% per year. A functional grouping analysis revealed that the thalamic nuclei involved in cognitive (AV, MD; 0.53% atrophy per year), visual (LGN, pulvinar; 0.62% atrophy per year), and auditory/vestibular (MGN; 0.64% atrophy per year) functions atrophied at significantly higher rates than those involved in motor (VA, VLA, VLP, and CM; 0.37% atrophy per year) and somatosensory (VPL; 0.32% atrophy per year) functions. A proximity-to-CSF analysis showed that the group of thalamic nuclei situated immediately adjacent to CSF atrophied at a significantly greater atrophy rate (0.59% atrophy per year) than that of the group of nuclei located farther from CSF (0.36% atrophy per year), supporting a growing hypothesis that CSF-mediated factors contribute to neurodegeneration. We did not find any significant hemispheric differences in these rates of change for thalamic nuclei. Only the CM thalamic nucleus showed a sex-specific difference in atrophy rates, atrophying at a greater rate in male versus female participants. Roughly half of the thalamic nuclei showed greater atrophy than all extra-thalamic structures examined (0% to 0.54% per year). These results show the value of white-matter-nulled MPRAGE imaging and THOMAS segmentation for measuring distinct thalamic nuclei and for characterizing the high and heterogeneous atrophy rates of the thalamus and its nuclei across the adult lifespan. Collectively, these methods and results advance our understanding of the role of thalamic substructures in neurocognitive and disease-related changes that occur with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eun Young Choi
- Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, MC5327, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Lu Tian
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, 1265 Welch Road, MC5464, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Jason H. Su
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, MC5488, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 350 Jane Stanford Way, MC9505, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Matthew T. Radovan
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, 353 Jane Stanford Way, MC9025, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Thomas Tourdias
- Department of Neuroradiology, Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, France,INSERM U1215, Neurocentre Magendie, University of Bordeaux, France
| | - Tammy T. Tran
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Building 420, MC2130, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Alexandra N. Trelle
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Building 420, MC2130, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Elizabeth Mormino
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford, University, 300 Pasteur Drive, MC5235, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Anthony D. Wagner
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Building 420, MC2130, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Brian K. Rutt
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, MC5488, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Corresponding author. (B.K. Rutt)
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11
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Wu Y, Wu X, Gao L, Yan Y, Geng Z, Zhou S, Zhu W, Tian Y, Yu Y, Wei L, Wang K. Abnormal Functional Connectivity of Thalamic Subdivisions in Alzheimer's Disease: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Neuroscience 2022; 496:73-82. [PMID: 35690336 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2022] [Revised: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by global cognitive impairment in multiple cognitive domains. Thalamic dysfunction during AD progression has been reported. However, there are limited studies regarding dysfunction in the functional connectivity (FC) of thalamic subdivisions and the relationship between such dysfunction and clinical assessments. This study examined dysfunction in the FC of thalamic subdivisions and determined the relationship between such dysfunction and clinical assessments. Forty-eight patients with AD and 47 matched healthy controls were recruited and assessed with scales for multiple cognitive domains. Group-wise comparisons of FC with thalamic subdivisions as seed points were conducted to identify abnormal cerebral regions. Moreover, correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between abnormal FC and cognitive performance. Decreased FC of the intralaminar and medial nuclei with the left precuneus was observed in patients but not in heathy controls. The abnormal FC of the medial nuclei with the left precuneus was correlated with the Mini Mental State Examination score in the patient group. Using the FC values showing between-group differences, the linear support vector machine classifier achieved quite good in accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve. Dysfunction in the FC of the intralaminar and medial thalamus with the precuneus may comprise a potential neural substrate for cognitive impairment during AD progression, which in turn may provide new treatment targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wu
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Xingqi Wu
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Liying Gao
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Yibing Yan
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Zhi Geng
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Department of Neurology, Second People's Hospital of Hefei City, The Hefei Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Shanshan Zhou
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province 230022, China
| | - Wanqiu Zhu
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China
| | - Yanghua Tian
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, Anhui 230088, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province 230022, China
| | - Yongqiang Yu
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China.
| | - Ling Wei
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province 230022, China.
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, Anhui 230022, China; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, Anhui 230088, China; The School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province 230032, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province 230022, China.
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12
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Structure-constrained combination-based nonlinear association analysis between incomplete multimodal imaging and genetic data for biomarker detection of neurodegenerative diseases. Med Image Anal 2022; 78:102419. [DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2022.102419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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13
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Maleki Balajoo S, Rahmani F, Khosrowabadi R, Meng C, Eickhoff SB, Grimmer T, Zarei M, Drzezga A, Sorg C, Tahmasian M. Decoupling of regional neural activity and inter-regional functional connectivity in Alzheimer's disease: a simultaneous PET/MR study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2022; 49:3173-3185. [PMID: 35199225 PMCID: PMC9250470 DOI: 10.1007/s00259-022-05692-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are characterized by both aberrant regional neural activity and disrupted inter-regional functional connectivity (FC). However, the effect of AD/MCI on the coupling between regional neural activity (measured by regional fluorodeoxyglucose imaging (rFDG)) and inter-regional FC (measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI)) is poorly understood. METHODS We scanned 19 patients with MCI, 33 patients with AD, and 26 healthy individuals by simultaneous FDG-PET/rs-fMRI and assessed rFDG and inter-regional FC metrics (i.e., clustering coefficient and degree centrality). Next, we examined the potential moderating effect of disease status (MCI or AD) on the link between rFDG and inter-regional FC metrics using hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis. We also tested this effect by considering interaction between disease status and inter-regional FC metrics, as well as interaction between disease status and rFDG. RESULTS Our findings revealed that both rFDG and inter-regional FC metrics were disrupted in MCI and AD. Moreover, AD altered the relationship between rFDG and inter-regional FC metrics. In particular, we found that AD moderated the effect of inter-regional FC metrics of the caudate, parahippocampal gyrus, angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, frontal pole, inferior temporal gyrus, middle frontal, lateral occipital, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, and thalamus on predicting their rFDG. On the other hand, AD moderated the effect of rFDG of the parietal operculum on predicting its inter-regional FC metric. CONCLUSION Our findings demonstrated that AD decoupled the link between regional neural activity and functional segregation and global connectivity across particular brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Somayeh Maleki Balajoo
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Farzaneh Rahmani
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Reza Khosrowabadi
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Chun Meng
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Timo Grimmer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Mojtaba Zarei
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
- Department of Neurology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Alexander Drzezga
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn-Cologne, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-2), Molecular Organization of the Brain, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Christian Sorg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, TUM-Neuroimaging Center (TUM-NIC), TechnischeUniversitätMünchen, Munich, Germany
| | - Masoud Tahmasian
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
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14
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Hong W, Li M, Liu Z, Li X, Huai H, Jia D, Jin W, Zhao Z, Liu L, Li J, Sun F, Xu R, Zhao Z. Heterogeneous alterations in thalamic subfields in major depression disorder. J Affect Disord 2021; 295:1079-1086. [PMID: 34706417 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/28/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND It is well known that the thalamus is not a unitary and homogeneous entity but a complex and highly connected archeocortical structure. Although many neuroimaging studies have reported alterations in the thalamus in major depressive disorder (MDD), the structural alterations in thalamic subfields remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate changes in gray matter volume (GMV) in thalamic subfields in MDD patients. METHODS The present study included structural images of 848 MDD patients and 794 age-matched normal controls (NC) from 17 study sites of the REST-meta-MDD consortium. We performed voxel-based morphometric analyses to calculate the GMV in the entire thalamus and its subfields using three different automated anatomical labeling atlases and subsequently compared the differences between first-episode drug-naïve major depressive disorder (FEDN), recurrent major depressive disorder (RMDD), and NC groups. We also evaluated the relationships between thalamic GMV and clinical symptoms in MDD patients. RESULTS Compared to NC, the FEDN patients showed increased GMV in thalamic subfields but not in the entire thalamus, while RMDD patients showed no significant alterations in GMV in the entire thalamus and its subfields. Moreover, the mean GMV in the right anterior thalamus and left anteroventral thalamus in RMDD patients were mildly positively correlated with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores. LIMITATIONS The main limitations are a single-modal analysis based on T1-weighted MR images and a cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that FEDN and RMDD patients show heterogeneous alterations across thalamic subfields, which may help us understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjun Hong
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Ming Li
- Department of Radiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
| | - Zaixing Liu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Xiguang Li
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Hongbo Huai
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Dongqi Jia
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Wei Jin
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Zhigang Zhao
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Liang Liu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Jiyuan Li
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Fenfen Sun
- Center for Brain, Mind, and Education, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China.
| | - Rong Xu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China.
| | - Zhiyong Zhao
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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15
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Puttaert D, Wens V, Fery P, Rovai A, Trotta N, Coquelet N, De Breucker S, Sadeghi N, Coolen T, Goldman S, Peigneux P, Bier JC, De Tiège X. Decreased Alpha Peak Frequency Is Linked to Episodic Memory Impairment in Pathological Aging. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 13:711375. [PMID: 34475819 PMCID: PMC8406997 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.711375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) is a largely validated neuropsychological test for the identification of amnestic syndrome from the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous electrophysiological data suggested a slowing down of the alpha rhythm in the AD-continuum as well as a key role of this rhythmic brain activity for episodic memory processes. This study therefore investigates the link between alpha brain activity and alterations in episodic memory as assessed by the FCSRT. For that purpose, 37 patients with altered FCSRT performance underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, supplemented by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/structural magnetic resonance imaging (18FDG-PET/MR), and 10 min of resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG). The individual alpha peak frequency (APF) in MEG resting-state data was positively correlated with patients' encoding efficiency as well as with the efficacy of semantic cues in facilitating patients' retrieval of previous stored word. The APF also correlated positively with patients' hippocampal volume and their regional glucose consumption in the posterior cingulate cortex. Overall, this study demonstrates that alterations in the ability to learn and store new information for a relatively short-term period are related to a slowing down of alpha rhythmic activity, possibly due to altered interactions in the extended mnemonic system. As such, a decreased APF may be considered as an electrophysiological correlate of short-term episodic memory dysfunction accompanying pathological aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delphine Puttaert
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF), Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Vincent Wens
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Clinic of Functional Neuroimaging, Service of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Patrick Fery
- Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF), Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Service of Neuropsychology and Speech Therapy, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Antonin Rovai
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Clinic of Functional Neuroimaging, Service of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Nicola Trotta
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Clinic of Functional Neuroimaging, Service of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Coquelet
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sandra De Breucker
- Department of Geriatrics, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Niloufar Sadeghi
- Department of Radiology, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Tim Coolen
- Department of Radiology, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Serge Goldman
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Clinic of Functional Neuroimaging, Service of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Philippe Peigneux
- Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF), Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jean-Christophe Bier
- Department of Neurology, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Xavier De Tiège
- Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Clinic of Functional Neuroimaging, Service of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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16
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Bernstein AS, Rapcsak SZ, Hornberger M, Saranathan M. Structural Changes in Thalamic Nuclei Across Prodromal and Clinical Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2021; 82:361-371. [PMID: 34024824 DOI: 10.3233/jad-201583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Increasing evidence suggests that thalamic nuclei may atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We hypothesized that there will be significant atrophy of limbic thalamic nuclei associated with declining memory and cognition across the AD continuum. OBJECTIVE The objective of this work was to characterize volume differences in thalamic nuclei in subjects with early and late mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as well as AD when compared to healthy control (HC) subjects using a novel MRI-based thalamic segmentation technique (THOMAS). METHODS MPRAGE data from the ADNI database were used in this study (n = 540). Healthy control (n = 125), early MCI (n = 212), late MCI (n = 114), and AD subjects (n = 89) were selected, and their MRI data were parcellated to determine the volumes of 11 thalamic nuclei for each subject. Volumes across the different clinical subgroups were compared using ANCOVA. RESULTS There were significant differences in thalamic nuclei volumes between HC, late MCI, and AD subjects. The anteroventral, mediodorsal, pulvinar, medial geniculate, and centromedian nuclei were significantly smaller in subjects with late MCI and AD when compared to HC subjects. Furthermore, the mediodorsal, pulvinar, and medial geniculate nuclei were significantly smaller in early MCI when compared to HC subjects. CONCLUSION This work highlights nucleus specific atrophy within the thalamus in subjects with early and late MCI and AD. This is consistent with the hypothesis that memory and cognitive changes in AD are mediated by damage to a large-scale integrated neural network that extends beyond the medial temporal lobes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam S Bernstein
- Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ, USA
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17
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Pardilla-Delgado E, Torrico-Teave H, Sanchez JS, Ramirez-Gomez LA, Baena A, Bocanegra Y, Vila-Castelar C, Fox-Fuller JT, Guzmán-Vélez E, Martínez J, Alvarez S, Ochoa-Escudero M, Lopera F, Quiroz YT. Associations between subregional thalamic volume and brain pathology in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab101. [PMID: 34095834 PMCID: PMC8172494 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Histopathological reports suggest that subregions of the thalamus, which regulates multiple physiological and cognitive processes, are not uniformly affected by Alzheimer's disease. Despite this, structural neuroimaging studies often consider the thalamus as a single region. Identification of in vivo Alzheimer's-dependent volumetric changes in thalamic subregions may aid the characterization of early nuclei-specific neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Here, we leveraged access to the largest single-mutation cohort of autosomal-dominant Alzheimer's disease to test whether cross-sectional abnormalities in subregional thalamic volumes are evident in non-demented mutation carriers (n = 31), compared to non-carriers (n = 36), and whether subregional thalamic volume is associated with age, markers of brain pathology and cognitive performance. Using automatic parcellation we examined the thalamus in six subregions (anterior, lateral, ventral, intralaminar, medial, and posterior) and their relation to age and brain pathology (amyloid and tau), as measured by PET imaging. No between-group differences were observed in the volume of the thalamic subregions. In carriers, lower volume in the medial subregion was related to increased cortical amyloid and entorhinal tau burden. These findings suggest that thalamic Alzheimer's-related volumetric reductions are not uniform even in preclinical and prodromal stages of autosomal-dominant Alzheimer's disease and therefore, this structure should not be considered as a single, unitary structure in Alzheimer's disease research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Justin S Sanchez
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | - Ana Baena
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia
| | - Yamile Bocanegra
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia
| | - Clara Vila-Castelar
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Joshua T Fox-Fuller
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | | | - Jairo Martínez
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | | | - Francisco Lopera
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia
| | - Yakeel T Quiroz
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia
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18
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Datta R, Bacchus MK, Kumar D, Elliott MA, Rao A, Dolui S, Reddy R, Banwell BL, Saranathan M. Fast automatic segmentation of thalamic nuclei from MP2RAGE acquisition at 7 Tesla. Magn Reson Med 2020; 85:2781-2790. [PMID: 33270943 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Thalamic nuclei are largely invisible in conventional MRI due to poor contrast. Thalamus Optimized Multi-Atlas Segmentation (THOMAS) provides automatic segmentation of 12 thalamic nuclei using white-matter-nulled (WMn) Magnetization Prepared Rapid Gradient Echo (MPRAGE) sequence at 7T, but increases overall scan duration. Routinely acquired, bias-corrected Magnetization Prepared 2 Rapid Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE) sequence yields superior tissue contrast and quantitative T1 maps. Application of THOMAS to MP2RAGE has been investigated in this study. METHODS Eight healthy volunteers and five pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis patients were recruited at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and scanned at Siemens 7T with WMn-MPRAGE and multi-echo-MP2RAGE (ME-MP2RAGE) sequences. White-matter-nulled contrast was synthesized (MP2-SYN) from T1 maps from ME-MP2RAGE sequence. Thalamic nuclei were segmented using THOMAS joint label fusion algorithm from WMn-MPRAGE and MP2-SYN datasets. THOMAS pipeline was modified to use majority voting to segment bias corrected T1-weighted uniform (MP2-UNI) images. Thalamic nuclei from MP2-SYN and MP2-UNI images were evaluated against corresponding nuclei obtained from WMn-MPRAGE images using dice coefficients, volume similarity indices (VSIs) and distance between centroids. RESULTS For MP2-SYN, dice > 0.85 and VSI > 0.95 was achieved for five larger nuclei and dice > 0.6 and VSI > 0.7 was achieved for seven smaller nuclei. The dice and VSI were slightly higher, whereas the distance between centroids were smaller for MP2-SYN compared to MP2-UNI, indicating improved performance using the MP2-SYN image. CONCLUSIONS THOMAS algorithm can successfully segment thalamic nuclei in MP2RAGE images with essentially equivalent quality as WMn-MPRAGE, widening its applicability in studies focused on thalamic involvement in aging and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritobrato Datta
- Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Micky K Bacchus
- Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Dushyant Kumar
- Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Mark A Elliott
- Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Aditya Rao
- Biological Basis of Behavior Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Sudipto Dolui
- Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ravinder Reddy
- Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Brenda L Banwell
- Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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19
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Wu X, Wu Y, Geng Z, Zhou S, Wei L, Ji GJ, Tian Y, Wang K. Asymmetric Differences in the Gray Matter Volume and Functional Connections of the Amygdala Are Associated With Clinical Manifestations of Alzheimer's Disease. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:602. [PMID: 32670008 PMCID: PMC7332559 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Asymmetry is a subtle but pervasive aspect of the human brain, which may be altered in several neuropsychiatric conditions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have reported that cerebral structural asymmetries are altered in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but most of these studies were conducted at the region-of-interest level. At the functional level, there are few reports of resting-state functional asymmetries based on functional MRI. In this study, we investigated lateral differences in structural volumes and strengths of functional connectivity between individuals with AD and healthy controls (HCs) at the voxel level. Methods Forty-eight patients with AD and 32 matched HCs were assessed. An analysis of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of gray matter volume was performed at the whole-brain level to explore anatomical cerebral asymmetries in AD. We then performed a seed-to-whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis to reveal FC asymmetries in AD. An asymmetry index (AI) was used to measure these changes, and the relationship between the structural and functional AIs and the clinical symptoms of AD was explored. Results A VBM analysis revealed a rightward and a leftward lateralization in the amygdala and the thalamus, respectively, in patients with AD. FC between the amygdala and the precuneus showed a rightward lateralization in AD, which was the opposite of the lateralization in the HCs. The asymmetric changes in structure and function were associated with disease severity and functional impairment in AD. Conclusion Our study highlights the value of considering asymmetries in the amygdala and the thalamus in clinical evaluations and their relevance to clinical measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingqi Wu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Yue Wu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Zhi Geng
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Shanshan Zhou
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Ling Wei
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Gong-Jun Ji
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China.,Department of Medical Psychology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Yanghua Tian
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China.,Department of Medical Psychology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
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