The superficial white matter in Alzheimer's disease |
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| Authors: | Owen R Phillips Shantanu H. Joshi Fabrizio Piras Maria Donata Orfei Mariangela Iorio Katherine L. Narr David W. Shattuck Carlo Caltagirone Gianfranco Spalletta Margherita Di Paola |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Morphology and Morphometry for NeuroImaging Lab, Clinical and Behavioural Neurology Dept. IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy;2. Neuroscience Dept. University of Rome, “Tor Vergata”, Italy;3. Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Neurology Dept. UCLA, California, USA;4. Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Rome, Italy;5. Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, Clinical and Behavioural Neurology Dept. IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy;6. Clinical and Behavioural Neurology Dept. IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy;7. Human Studies Dept. LUMSA University, Rome, Italy |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
White matter abnormalities have been shown in the large deep fibers of Alzheimer's disease patients. However, the late myelinating superficial white matter comprised of intracortical myelin and short‐range association fibers has not received much attention. To investigate this area, we extracted a surface corresponding to the superficial white matter beneath the cortex and then applied a cortical pattern‐matching approach which allowed us to register and subsequently sample diffusivity along thousands of points at the interface between the gray matter and white matter in 44 patients with Alzheimer's disease (Age: 71.02 ± 5.84, 16M/28F) and 47 healthy controls (Age 69.23 ± 4.45, 19M/28F). In patients we found an overall increase in the axial and radial diffusivity across most of the superficial white matter (P < 0.001) with increases in diffusivity of more than 20% in the bilateral parahippocampal regions and the temporal and frontal lobes. Furthermore, diffusivity correlated with the cognitive deficits measured by the Mini‐Mental State Examination scores (P < 0.001). The superficial white matter has a unique microstructure and is critical for the integration of multimodal information during brain maturation and aging. Here we show that there are major abnormalities in patients and the deterioration of these fibers relates to clinical symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Hum Brain Mapp 37:1321‐1334, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | white matter intracortical myelin DTI interstitial neurons diffusion short‐range association fibers U‐fibers oligodendrocytes neurodegeneration |
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