Structural and functional papez circuit integrity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is heterogeneous but now recognized as a feature in non-demented patients and no longer exclusively attributed to executive dysfunction. However, despite common reports of temporal lobe changes and memory deficits in ALS, episodic memory ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain imaging and behavior 2018-12, Vol.12 (6), p.1622-1630
Main Authors: Bueno, Ana Paula Arantes, Pinaya, Walter Hugo L., Moura, Luciana M., Bertoux, Maxime, Radakovic, Ratko, Kiernan, Matthew C., Teixeira, Antonio Lucio, de Souza, Leonardo Cruz, Hornberger, Michael, Sato, João Ricardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abnormalities
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - diagnostic imaging
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - physiopathology
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - psychology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - physiopathology
Cingulum
Circuits
Cognition Disorders - diagnostic imaging
Cognition Disorders - etiology
Cognition Disorders - physiopathology
Cognitive ability
Cortex (entorhinal)
Feature recognition
Female
Fornix
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional Neuroimaging
Hippocampus
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory
Memory, Episodic
Middle Aged
Morphometry
Multimodal Imaging
Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging
Neural Pathways - physiopathology
Neuroimaging
Neuropsychology
Neuroradiology
Neurosciences
Organ Size
Original Research
Parahippocampal gyrus
Patients
Psychiatry
Rest
Statistical analysis
Structure-function relationships
Substantia alba
Substantia grisea
Temporal cortex
Temporal lobe
Thalamus
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Summary:Cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is heterogeneous but now recognized as a feature in non-demented patients and no longer exclusively attributed to executive dysfunction. However, despite common reports of temporal lobe changes and memory deficits in ALS, episodic memory has been less explored. In the current study, we examined how the Papez circuit—a circuit known to participate in memory processes—is structurally and functionally affected in ALS patients (n = 20) compared with healthy controls (n = 15), and whether these changes correlated with a commonly used clinical measure of episodic memory. Our multimodal MRI approach (cortical volume, voxel-based morphometry, diffusion tensor imaging and resting state functional magnetic resonance) showed reduced gray matter in left hippocampus, left entorhinal cortex and right posterior cingulate as well as increased white matter fractional anisotropy and decreased mean diffusivity in the left cingulum bundle (hippocampal part) of ALS patients compared with controls. Interestingly, thalamus, mammillary bodies and fornix were preserved. Finally, we report a decreased functional connectivity in ALS patients in bilateral hippocampus, bilateral anterior and posterior parahippocampal gyrus and posterior cingulate. The results revealed that ALS patients showed statistically significant structural changes, but more important, widespread prominent functional connectivity abnormalities across the regions comprising the Papez circuit. The decreased functional connectivity found in the Papez network may suggest these changes could be used to assess risk or assist early detection or development of memory symptoms in ALS patients even before structural changes are established.
ISSN:1931-7557
1931-7565
DOI:10.1007/s11682-018-9825-0