NeuroImage. Clinical
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2016
Network analysis of functional brain connectivity in borderline personality disorder using resting-state fMRI.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with symptoms such as affect dysregulation, impaired sense of self, and self-harm behaviors. Neuroimaging research on BPD has revealed structural and functional abnormalities in specific brain regions and connections. However, little is known about the topological organizations of brain networks in BPD. ⋯ Lastly, the key network measures showed high correlations with several clinical symptom scores, and classified BPD patients against healthy controls with high accuracy based on linear discriminant analysis. The abnormal topological properties and connectivity found in this study may add new knowledge to the current understanding of functional brain networks in BPD. However, due to limitation of small sample sizes, the results of the current study should be viewed as exploratory and need to be validated on large samples in future works.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2016
Cerebral blood flow in presymptomatic MAPT and GRN mutation carriers: A longitudinal arterial spin labeling study.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is characterized by behavioral disturbances and language problems. Familial forms can be caused by genetic defects in microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT), progranulin (GRN), and C9orf72. In light of upcoming clinical trials with potential disease-modifying agents, the development of sensitive biomarkers to evaluate such agents in the earliest stage of FTD is crucial. In the current longitudinal study we used arterial spin labeling MRI (ASL) in presymptomatic carriers of MAPT and GRN mutations to investigate early changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF). ⋯ We demonstrated longitudinal alterations in CBF in presymptomatic FTD independent of grey matter atrophy, with the strongest decrease in individuals that developed symptoms during follow-up. Therefore, ASL could have the potential to serve as a sensitive biomarker of disease progression in the presymptomatic stage of FTD in future clinical trials.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2016
Combined 18F-FDG-PET and diffusion tensor imaging in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.
Several studies using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have found both temporal and extratemporal abnormalities in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with ipsilateral hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), but data are lacking about the findings of both techniques in the same patients. We aimed to determine whether the extent of 18F-FDG-PET hypometabolism is related to DTI abnormalities. ⋯ Patients with MTLE-HS have widespread metabolic and microstructural abnormalities that involve similar regions. The distribution patterns of these gray and white matter abnormalities differ between patients with left or right MTLE, but also with the extent of the 18F-FDG-PET hypometabolism along the epileptogenic temporal lobe. These findings suggest a variable network involvement among patients with MTLE-HS.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2016
Structural and functional brain abnormalities place phenocopy frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in the FTD spectrum.
'Phenocopy' frontotemporal dementia (phFTD) patients may clinically mimic the behavioral variant of FTD (bvFTD), but do not show functional decline or abnormalities upon visual inspection of routine neuroimaging. We aimed to identify abnormalities in gray matter (GM) volume and perfusion in phFTD and to assess whether phFTD belongs to the FTD spectrum. We compared phFTD patients with both healthy controls and bvFTD patients. ⋯ PhFTD and bvFTD show overlapping cortical structural abnormalities indicating a continuum of changes especially in the frontotemporal regions. Together with functional changes suggestive of a compensatory response to incipient pathology in the left prefrontal regions, these findings are the first to support a possible neuropathological etiology of phFTD and suggest that phFTD may be a neurodegenerative disease on the FTD spectrum.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2016
A brain stress test: Cerebral perfusion during memory encoding in mild cognitive impairment.
Arterial spin labeled perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (ASL MRI) provides non-invasive quantification of cerebral blood flow, which can be used as a biomarker of brain function due to the tight coupling between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and brain metabolism. A growing body of literature suggests that regional CBF is altered in neurodegenerative diseases. ⋯ Further, logistic regression analysis demonstrated that ASL MRI and concomitantly acquired structural MRI provide complementary information of disease status. The current findings support the potential utility of task-enhanced ASL MRI as a biomarker in early Alzheimer's disease.