Subcortical grey matter changes in untreated, early stage Parkinson's disease without dementia.
BACKGROUND
Previous MRI studies have investigated cortical or subcortical grey matter changes in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), yielding inconsistent findings between the studies. We therefore sought to determine whether focal cortical or subcortical grey matter changes may be present from the early disease stage.


METHODS
We recruited 49 untreated, early stage PD patients without dementia and 53 control subjects. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate cortical grey matter changes, and automated volumetry and shape analysis were used to assess volume changes and shape deformation of the subcortical grey matter structures, respectively.


RESULTS
Voxel-based morphometry showed neither reductions nor increases in grey matter volume in patients compared to controls. Compared to controls, PD patients had significant reductions in adjusted volumes of putamen, nucleus accumbens, and hippocampus (corrected p < 0.05). Vertex-based shape analysis showed regionally contracted area on the posterolateral and ventromedial putamen bilaterally in PD patients (corrected p < 0.05). No correlations were found between cortical and subcortical grey matter and clinical variables representing disease duration and severity.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that untreated, early stage PD without dementia is associated with volume reduction and shape deformation of subcortical grey matter, but not with cortical grey matter reduction. Our findings of structural changes in the posterolateral putamen and ventromedial putamen/nucleus accumbens could provide neuroanatomical basis for the involvement of motor and limbic striatum, further implicating motor and non-motor symptoms in PD, respectively. Early hippocampal involvement might be related to the risk for developing dementia in PD patients.
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea.
Hye Mi
HM
Lee
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea.
Kyum-Yil
KY
Kwon
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea.
Min-Jik
MJ
Kim
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea.
Ji-Wan
JW
Jang
Department of Radiology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sang-Il
SI
Suh
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea.
Seong-Beom
SB
Koh
Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro-dong Ro 148, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-703, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jhkim.merrf@gmail.com.
Ji Hyun
JH
Kim
D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*
Parkinson's disease; Regional volumetry; Shape analysis; Subcortical grey matter; Voxel-based morphometry