title: Magnetization transfer imaging demonstrates a distributed pattern of microstructural changes of the cerebral cortex in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To date, damage of the cerebral cortex neurons in ALS was investigated by using conventional MR imaging and proton MR spectroscopy. We explored the capability of MTI to map the microstructural changes in cerebral motor and extramotor cortices of patients with ALS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty patients with ALS and 17 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled. A high-resolution 3D SPGR sequence with and without MT saturation pulses was obtained on a 1.5T scanner to compute MTR values. Using the FMRIB Software Library tools, we automatically computed the MTR of the cerebral cortex GM in 48 regions of the entire cerebral cortex derived from the standard Harvard-Oxford cortical atlas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The MTR values were significantly lower in patients with ALS than in healthy controls in the primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus), nonprimary motor areas (superior and middle frontal gyri and superior parietal lobe), and some extramotor areas (frontal pole, planum temporale, and planum polare). No correlation was found between regional MTR values and the severity of clinical deficits or disease duration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MTI analysis can detect the distributed pattern of microstructural changes of the GM in the cerebral cortex of patients with ALS with involvement of both the motor and extramotor areas.
authors: Department of Neuroscience, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. mircocosottini@libero.it
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Cosottini
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Pesaresi
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Piazza
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Diciotti
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Belmonte
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Battaglini
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ginestroni
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Siciliano
authors: N
authors: N
authors: De Stefano
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Mascalchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011522:Protons; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D011522:Protons