Influences of lobar gray matter and white matter lesion load on cognition and mood.
Depressed mood is a frequent co-morbidity of dementia suggesting that they might share a common neuropathological substrate. Gray matter (GM) atrophy and white matter lesions (WML) have been described in both conditions. Our aims were to determine the relationship of GM and WML with cognition and depressed mood in the same population. Structural brain images were obtained from 42 controls, 20 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 32 subjects with cognitive impairment/dementia due to subcortical cerebrovascular disease (vascCIND/IVD). Images were segmented to obtain lobar GM, white matter and WML volumes. Lobar WML had a negative effect on GM in all lobes in controls, on frontal, parietal and occipital GM in AD and on frontal GM in vascCIND/IVD. Frontal, temporal and hippocampal GM were associated with cognitive functions and frontal WML load with depressed mood. Cognitive function is associated with GM atrophy and depressed mood is associated with frontal WML. This indicates that although both often occur together, depressed mood and cognitive impairment have different pathological correlates.
Mueller
Susanne G
SG
Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, VAMC/University of California San Francisco, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA, 94121, USA. Susanne.mueller@ucsf.edu
Mack
Wendy J
WJ
Mungas
Dan
D
Kramer
Joel H
JH
Cardenas-Nicolson
Valerie
V
Lavretsky
Helen
H
Greene
Maxwell
M
Schuff
Norbert
N
Chui
Helena C
HC
Weiner
Michael W
MW
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001284:Atrophy; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000150:complications; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales