title: Morphometric correlates of dysarthric deficit in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Our objective was to investigate the volumetric correlates of speech in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Twenty-three ALS patients had a structural 3D MRI scan, neuropsychological, linguistic and speech assessments. Twenty-three healthy adults of comparable age, education, white-matter hyperintensity load and intracranial volumes were also recruited. Between-group differences in grey matter and white matter (WM) were examined to characterize ALS patients accurately. The association between residual speech and volumetric maps was studied in these patients. Results demonstrated that ALS patients showed a pattern of WM reduction, which was located in peri-cortical motor/premotor fibres bilaterally, and in a large volume extending from the pons/midbrain to the cerebellum. A speech composite score was computed, and this was positively associated with premotor/supplementary-motor WM bilaterally, and right cerebellar WM. Since premotor associations were found in volumes where ALS patients showed WM reduction, this region is believed to be directly involved in speech execution in this group. Since cerebellar associations were instead found in volumes free from shrinkage, this region is interpreted as playing a modulatory role, compensating for the impact of ALS pathology.
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.|b Department of Neuroscience , University of Sheffield , Sheffield , UK.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Marco
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merico
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berta
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Segato
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Citton
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baglione
authors.affiliation: a San Camillo Hospital Foundation , Venice Lido, Venice , Italy.|b Department of Neuroscience , University of Sheffield , Sheffield , UK.
authors.forename: Annalena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venneri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004401:Dysarthria / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009929:Organ Size; D011149:Pons / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Imaging; MRI; dysarthria; motor neuron disease; speech; voxel based morphometry