title: Reduced cortical gray matter in narcolepsy: preliminary findings with voxel-based morphometry.
abstract: There is a selective loss of hypocretin/orexin-containing hypothalamic neurons in patients with narcolepsy. The authors compared MRI-derived gray matter maps of 12 patients with narcolepsy with matched controls using voxel-based morphometry to ascertain whether there are other structural brain abnormalities. Patients with narcolepsy showed bilateral cortical gray matter reductions predominantly in inferior temporal and inferior frontal brain regions. Relative global gray matter loss was independent of disease duration or medication history. No significant subcortical gray matter alterations were noted.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Neurophysiology of Sleep, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuld
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pollmächer
authors.forename: Dorothee P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Auer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies