title: Microstructural Correlates of Emotional Attribution Impairment in Non-Demented Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
abstract: Impairments in the ability to recognize and attribute emotional states to others have been described in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and linked to the dysfunction of key nodes of the emotional empathy network. Microstructural correlates of such disorders are still unexplored. We investigated the white-matter substrates of emotional attribution deficits in a sample of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients without cognitive decline. Thirteen individuals with either probable or definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 14 healthy controls were enrolled in a Diffusion Tensor Imaging study and administered the Story-based Empathy Task, assessing the ability to attribute mental states to others (i.e., Intention and Emotion attribution conditions). As already reported, a significant global reduction of empathic skills, mainly driven by a failure in Emotion Attribution condition, was found in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients compared to healthy subjects. The severity of this deficit was significantly correlated with fractional anisotropy along the forceps minor, genu of corpus callosum, right uncinate and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi. The involvement of frontal commissural fiber tracts and right ventral associative fronto-limbic pathways is the microstructural hallmark of the impairment of high-order processing of socio-emotional stimuli in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These results support the notion of the neurofunctional and neuroanatomical continuum between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.
authors: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.
authors: Chiara
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-9887
authors: C
authors: Crespi
authors: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.|Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Turro, Milano, Italy.
authors: Chiara
authors: C
authors: Cerami
authors: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Dodich
authors: Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.|NeTS Center, Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS, Pavia, Italy.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Canessa
authors: Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.|Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Turro, Milano, Italy.
authors: Sandro
authors: S
authors: Iannaccone
authors: Department of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, Casa Cura Policlinico, Milano, Italy.
authors: Massimo
authors: M
authors: Corbo
authors: NEuroMuscolar Omnicentre, Fondazione Serena Onlus, Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Lunetta
authors: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.|CERMAC - Neuroradiology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Falini
authors: Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.|NeTS Center, Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS, Pavia, Italy.
authors: Stefano F
authors: SF
authors: Cappa
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests