title: Abnormalities of the uncinate fasciculus and posterior cingulate fasciculus in mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease: a diffusion tensor tractography study.
abstract: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered the transitional stage between normal cognition and dementia. The aim of this study was to use tractography based analysis to elucidate alterations in subjects with MCI compared with subjects with early Alzheimer's disease (AD) and controls. Seventeen subjects with early AD, 16 with MCI and 16 controls underwent magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neuropsychological assessment. Diffusion tensor tractographies were computed and fiber-tract maps were generated using "dTV II" DTI software. We measured mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values along the uncinate fasciculus (UNC), posterior cingulate fasciculus (PCF) and corticospinal tract (CST). There were statistically significant differences in the FA and ADC values of the UNC and PCF between subjects with early AD and controls. Subjects with MCI exhibited significantly lower FA values on both sides of the PCF relative to controls. However, there were no significant differences between subjects with early AD and MCI for any measurement. Our results suggest that alterations in the PCF precede the onset of dementia.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8522, Japan. kuniaki@naramed-u.ac.jp
authors: Kuniaki
authors: K
authors: Kiuchi
authors: Masayuki
authors: M
authors: Morikawa
authors: Toshiaki
authors: T
authors: Taoka
authors: Tomohisa
authors: T
authors: Nagashima
authors: Takahira
authors: T
authors: Yamauchi
authors: Manabu
authors: M
authors: Makinodan
authors: Kazunobu
authors: K
authors: Norimoto
authors: Kazumichi
authors: K
authors: Hashimoto
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Kosaka
authors: Yuichiro
authors: Y
authors: Inoue
authors: Makoto
authors: M
authors: Inoue
authors: Kimihiko
authors: K
authors: Kichikawa
authors: Toshifumi
authors: T
authors: Kishimoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology*