title: Atrophic Patterns of the Frontal-Subcortical Circuits in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: Atrophy of the cortical thickness and gray matter volume are regarded as sensitive markers for the early clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to investigate differences in atrophy patterns in the frontal-subcortical circuits between MCI and AD, assess whether these differences were essential for the pathologic basis of cognitive impairment. A total of 131 individuals were recruited, including 45 with cognitively normal controls (CN), 46 with MCI, and 40 with AD. FreeSurfer software was used to perform volumetric measurements of the frontal-subcortical circuits from 3.0 T magnetic resonance (MR) scans. Data revealed that both MCI and AD subjects had a thinner cortex in the left caudal middle frontal gyrus and the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus compared with CN individuals. The left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus was also thinner in AD compared with MCI patients. There were no statistically significant differences in the cortical mean curvature among the three groups. Both MCI and AD subjects exhibited smaller bilateral hippocampus volumes compared with CN individuals. The volumes of the bilateral hippocampus and the right putamen were also smaller in AD compared with MCI patients. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus and bilateral hippocampus were risk factors for cognitive impairment. These current results suggest that atrophy was heterogeneous in subregions of the frontal-subcortical circuits in MCI and AD patients. Among these subregions, the reduced thickness of the left lateral orbitofrontal and the smaller volume of the bilateral hippocampus seemed to be markers for predicting cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China; Nanjing clinic medicine center for neurological and psychiatric diseases, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China; Nanjing clinic medicine center for neurological and psychiatric diseases, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Lai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors.forename: ShanShan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China; Nanjing clinic medicine center for neurological and psychiatric diseases, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China; Nanjing clinic medicine center for neurological and psychiatric diseases, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis