TY - JOUR
T1 - The topography of grey matter involvement in early and late onset Alzheimer's disease
AU - Frisoni, Giovanni B.
AU - Pievani, Michela
AU - Testa, Cristina
AU - Sabattoli, Francesca
AU - Bresciani, Lorena
AU - Bonetti, Matteo
AU - Beltramello, Alberto
AU - Hayashi, Kiralee M.
AU - Toga, Arthur W.
AU - Thompson, Paul M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Algorithm development for this study was supported in part by research grants from the National Center for Research Resources (P41 RR13642), the National Institute of Mental Health (RO1 MH60374), the NIH Roadmap Initiative (P20 RR020750), the National Library of Medicine (R01 LM05639) and by grants R21 EB01651, R21 RR019771 and AG016570 (to P.T.). We are indebted to Giuliano Binetti, Laboratory of Neurobiology, IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio, Brescia, for providing APOE data, and to Sun Xin Yu, Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, for help in the brain extraction for cortical pattern matching. Roberta Rossi scored white matter changes, Elisa Canu made the tracings for total intracranial volume measurements, Samantha Galluzzi collected clinical information from patients, and Monica Ettori administered the neuropsychological tests. Marina Boccardi kindly provided useful suggestions on limbic system physiology.
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - Clinical observations have suggested that the neuropsychological profile of early and late onset forms of Alzheimer's disease (EOAD and LOAD) differ in that neocortical functions are more affected in the former and learning in the latter, suggesting that they might be different diseases. The aim of this study is to assess the brain structural basis of these observations, and test whether neocortical areas are more heavily affected in EOAD and medial temporal areas in LOAD. Fifteen patients with EOAD and 15 with LOAD (onset before and after age 65; Mini Mental State Examination 19.8, SD 4.0 and 20.7, SD 4.2) were assessed with a neuropsychological battery and high-resolution MRI together with 1:1 age- and sex-matched controls. Cortical atrophy was assessed with cortical pattern matching, and hippocampal atrophy with region-of-interest-based analysis. EOAD patients performed more poorly than LOAD on visuospatial, frontal-executive and learning tests. EOAD patients had the largest atrophy in the occipital [25% grey matter (GM) loss in the left and 24% in the right hemisphere] and parietal lobes (23% loss on both sides), while LOAD patients were remarkably atrophic in the hippocampus (21 and 22% loss). Hippocampal GM loss of EOAD (9 and 16% to the left and right) and occipital (12 and 14%) and parietal (13 and 12%) loss of LOAD patients were less marked. In EOAD, GM loss of 25% or more was mapped to large neocortical areas and affected all lobes, with relative sparing of primary sensory, motor, and visual cortex, and anterior cingulate and orbital cortex. In LOAD, GM loss was diffusely milder (below 15%); losses of 15-20% were confined to temporoparietal and retrosplenial cortex, and reached 25% in restricted areas of the medial temporal lobe and right superior temporal gyrus. These findings indicate that EOAD and LOAD differ in their typical topographic patterns of brain atrophy, suggesting different predisposing or aetiological factors.
AB - Clinical observations have suggested that the neuropsychological profile of early and late onset forms of Alzheimer's disease (EOAD and LOAD) differ in that neocortical functions are more affected in the former and learning in the latter, suggesting that they might be different diseases. The aim of this study is to assess the brain structural basis of these observations, and test whether neocortical areas are more heavily affected in EOAD and medial temporal areas in LOAD. Fifteen patients with EOAD and 15 with LOAD (onset before and after age 65; Mini Mental State Examination 19.8, SD 4.0 and 20.7, SD 4.2) were assessed with a neuropsychological battery and high-resolution MRI together with 1:1 age- and sex-matched controls. Cortical atrophy was assessed with cortical pattern matching, and hippocampal atrophy with region-of-interest-based analysis. EOAD patients performed more poorly than LOAD on visuospatial, frontal-executive and learning tests. EOAD patients had the largest atrophy in the occipital [25% grey matter (GM) loss in the left and 24% in the right hemisphere] and parietal lobes (23% loss on both sides), while LOAD patients were remarkably atrophic in the hippocampus (21 and 22% loss). Hippocampal GM loss of EOAD (9 and 16% to the left and right) and occipital (12 and 14%) and parietal (13 and 12%) loss of LOAD patients were less marked. In EOAD, GM loss of 25% or more was mapped to large neocortical areas and affected all lobes, with relative sparing of primary sensory, motor, and visual cortex, and anterior cingulate and orbital cortex. In LOAD, GM loss was diffusely milder (below 15%); losses of 15-20% were confined to temporoparietal and retrosplenial cortex, and reached 25% in restricted areas of the medial temporal lobe and right superior temporal gyrus. These findings indicate that EOAD and LOAD differ in their typical topographic patterns of brain atrophy, suggesting different predisposing or aetiological factors.
KW - Age at onset
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Computational neuroanatomy
KW - Hippocampus
KW - Magnetic resonance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33947096956&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/brain/awl377
DO - 10.1093/brain/awl377
M3 - Article
C2 - 17293358
AN - SCOPUS:33947096956
SN - 0006-8950
VL - 130
SP - 720
EP - 730
JO - Brain
JF - Brain
IS - 3
ER -