title: Comparison of diffusion tensor imaging and voxel-based morphometry to detect white matter damage in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Regional atrophy of gray matter (GM) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is well known; however, the relationship between macroscopic and microscopic changes of cerebral white matter (WM) is uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of GM, WM atrophy, and microscopic WM changes in the same individuals with AD. All subjects (10AD and 15 healthy controls [HC]) underwent a MRI scanning at 1.5 T, including a 3-dimensional volumetric scan and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We performed statistical parametric mapping (SPM) with DTI to evaluate the patterns of the microscopic WM changes, as well as voxel-based morphometry (VBM) for GM and WM volume changes between patients with AD and HC. GM atrophy was detected, mainly in posterior regions, and WM atrophy was similarly distributed, but less involved on VBM analysis. Unlike WM atrophy on VBM analysis, microscopic WM changes were shown in the medial frontal, orbitofrontal, splenium of the corpus callosum, and cingulum on DTI analysis with SPM. We demonstrated that the pattern of macroscopic WM atrophy was similar to GM atrophy, while microscopic WM changes had a different pattern and distribution. Our findings suggest that WM atrophy may preferentially reflect the secondary changes of GM atrophy, while microscopic WM changes start earlier in frontal areas before GM and WM atrophy can be detected macroscopically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Konyang University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Bora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Yong-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Yun-Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Bang-Bon
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: Yong-Duk
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kee-Ook
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dong-Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests