title: Divergent regional patterns of cerebral hypoperfusion and gray matter atrophy in mild cognitive impairment patients.
abstract: Reductions of cerebral blood flow and gray matter structure have been implicated in early pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, potentially providing complementary information. The present study evaluated regional patterns of cerebral hypoperfusion and atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults. In each participant, cerebral perfusion and gray matter structure were extracted within selected brain regions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease using magnetic resonance imaging. Measures were compared between diagnostic groups with/without adjustment for covariates. In mild cognitive impairment patients, cerebral blood flow was significantly reduced in comparison with healthy controls in temporo-parietal regions and the basal ganglia in the absence of local gray matter atrophy. By contrast, gray matter structure was significantly reduced in the hippocampus in the absence of local hypoperfusion. Both, cerebral perfusion and gray matter structure were significantly reduced in the entorhinal and isthmus cingulate cortex in mild cognitive impairment patients compared with healthy older adults. Our results demonstrated partly divergent patterns of temporo-parietal hypoperfusion and medial-temporal atrophy in mild cognitive impairment patients, potentially indicating biomarker sensitivity to dissociable pathological mechanisms. The findings support applicability of cerebral perfusion and gray matter structure as complementary magnetic resonance imaging-based biomarkers in early Alzheimer's disease detection, a hypothesis to be further evaluated in longitudinal studies.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Miranka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|2 Centre for Studies on Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pichet Binette
authors.affiliation: 3 Center for Stroke Research, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brunecker
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Köbe
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|4 Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: A Veronica
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Witte
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.|3 Center for Stroke Research, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flöel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D001284:Atrophy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Cerebral blood flow; cerebral blood volume; magnetic resonance imaging; mild cognitive impairment