title: Diffusion tensor in posterior cingulate gyrus: correlation with cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: To determine whether the diffusion abnormalities in brains with Alzheimer's disease (AD) correlate with disease severity, we studied 34 AD patients using diffusion tensor MRI. Mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy (FA) as well as three eigenvalues (lambda1, lambda2, and lambda3) of the diffusion tensor of the posterior cingulate white matter correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score. The mean diffusivity and the three eigenvalues showed significant correlation with the MMSE score. On the other hand, no significant correlation was seen between the FA and MMSE score. Our results suggested that mean diffusivity and the eigen-values, but not FA, reflect progression of AD-related histopathlogical changes in the posterior cingulate white matter and may be useful biological indices to monitor AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. yoshiura@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiura
authors.forename: Futoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mihara
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogomori
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*