NeuroImage. Clinical
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
The anatomy of the human medial forebrain bundle: Ventral tegmental area connections to reward-associated subcortical and frontal lobe regions.
Despite their importance in reward, motivation, and learning there is only sparse anatomical knowledge about the human medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and the connectivity of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). A thorough anatomical and microstructural description of the reward related PFC/OFC regions and their connection to the VTA - the superolateral branch of the MFB (slMFB) - is however mandatory to enable an interpretation of distinct therapeutic effects from different interventional treatment modalities in neuropsychiatric disorders (DBS, TMS etc.). This work aims at a normative description of the human MFB (and more detailed the slMFB) anatomy with respect to distant prefrontal connections and microstructural features. ⋯ The anatomical description of the human MFB shows far reaching connectivity of VTA to reward-related subcortical and cortical prefrontal regions - but not to emotion-related regions on the medial cortical surface - realized via the superolateral branch of the MFB. Local tractography approaches appear to be inferior in showing these far-reaching projections. Since these local approaches are typically used for surgical targeting of DBS procedures, the here established detailed map might - as a normative template - guide future efforts to target deep brain stimulation of the slMFB in depression and other disorders related to dysfunction of reward and reward-associated learning.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
ReviewNeuroimaging and other modalities to assess Alzheimer's disease in Down syndrome.
People with Down syndrome (DS) develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) at higher rates and a younger age of onset compared to the general population. As the average lifespan of people with DS is increasing, AD is becoming an important health concern in this group. Neuroimaging is becoming an increasingly useful tool in understanding the pathogenesis of dementia development in relation to clinical symptoms. ⋯ Future PET studies relating tau distribution to clinical symptoms will provide further insight into the role this protein plays in dementia development. Brain activity changes demonstrated by EEG and metabolic changes seen via FDG-PET may also follow predictable patterns that can help track dementia progression. Finally, newer approaches such as retinal imaging will hopefully overcome some of the limitations of neuroimaging and allow for detection of dementia at an earlier stage.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialEnhancing treatment of osteoarthritis knee pain by boosting expectancy: A functional neuroimaging study.
Expectation can significantly modulate pain and treatment effects. This study aims to investigate if boosting patients' expectancy can enhance the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and its underlying brain mechanism. ⋯ Our study provides a novel method and mechanism for boosting the treatment of pain in patients with KOA. Our findings may shed light on enhancing outcomes of pharmacological and integrative medicines in clinical settings.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Common and distinct abnormal frontal-limbic system structural and functional patterns in patients with major depression and bipolar disorder.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are common severe affective diseases. Although previous neuroimaging studies have investigated brain abnormalities in MDD or BD, the structural and functional differences between these two disorders remain unclear. In this study, we adopted a multimodal approach, combining voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and functional connectivity (FC), to study the common and distinct structural and functional alterations in unmedicated MDD and BD patients. ⋯ We found that both the MDD and BD groups had decreased RSFC between the ACC_L and the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC_L) and that the MDD group had decreased RSFC between the SFG_L and the HIP_L, compared with the healthy controls. Our results revealed that the MDD and BD patients were more similar than different in GMV and RSFC. These findings indicate that investigating the frontal-limbic system could be useful for understanding the underlying mechanisms of these two disorders.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Gray-matter-specific MR imaging improves the detection of epileptogenic zones in focal cortical dysplasia: A new sequence called fluid and white matter suppression (FLAWS).
To evaluate the diagnostic value and characteristic features of FCD epileptogenic zones using a novel sequence called fluid and white matter suppression (FLAWS). ⋯ FLAWS can help in the detection of FCD epileptogenic zones. It is recommended that epileptogenic zone on FLAWS be diagnosed based on a combination of two features, one of which should be the "blurred junction of the gray-white matter" in types I and II. In type III, the combination of "the blurred junction of the gray-white matter" with "abnormal signal intensity of subcortical white matter" is recommended.