title: Anomalous White Matter Structure and the Effect of Age in Down Syndrome Patients.
abstract: Neural tissue alterations in Down syndrome are fully expressed at relatively late developmental stages. In addition, there is an early presence of neurodegenerative changes in the late life stages.
  
  
  
  The aims of this study were both to characterize white matter abnormalities in the brain of adult Down syndrome patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and to investigate whether degenerative alterations in white matter structure are detectable before dementia is clinically evident.
  
  
  
  Forty-five adult non-demented Down syndrome patients showing a wide age range (18-52 years) and a matched 45-subject control group were assessed. DTI fractional anisotropy (FA) brain maps were generated and selected cognitive tests were administered.
  
  
  
  Compared with healthy controls, non-demented Down syndrome patients showed lower DTI FA in white matter involving the major pathways, but with more severe alterations in the frontal-subcortical circuits. White matter FA decreased with age at a similar rate in both DS and control groups.
  
  
  
  Our results contribute to characterizing the expression of white matter structural alterations in adult Down syndrome. However, an accelerated aging effect was not demonstrated, which may suggest that the FA measurements used are not sufficiently sensitive or, alternatively, age-related white matter neurodegeneration is not obvious prior to overt clinical dementia.
authors.affiliation: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fenoll
authors.affiliation: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.|Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM G21, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pujol
authors.affiliation: Specialized Department in Mental Health and Intellectual Disability, Institut d'Assistència Sanitària (IAS), Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esteba-Castillo
authors.affiliation: Integrative Pharmacology and Neuroscience Systems Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.|Cellular & Systems Neurobiology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Sola
authors.affiliation: Specialized Department in Mental Health and Intellectual Disability, Institut d'Assistència Sanitària (IAS), Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ribas-Vidal
authors.affiliation: Specialized Department in Mental Health and Intellectual Disability, Institut d'Assistència Sanitària (IAS), Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Alba
authors.affiliation: Integrative Pharmacology and Neuroscience Systems Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Benavides
authors.affiliation: Integrative Pharmacology and Neuroscience Systems Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martínez-Vilavella
authors.affiliation: MRI Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deus
authors.affiliation: Cellular & Systems Neurobiology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dierssen
authors.affiliation: Cellular & Systems Neurobiology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Novell-Alsina
authors.affiliation: Integrative Pharmacology and Neuroscience Systems Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Madrid, Spain.|Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut Universitat Pompeu Fabra (CEXS-UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de la Torre
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Accelerated aging; diffusion tensor imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; neurodegeneration