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The neural correlates of anomia in the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease

  • Functional Neuroradiology
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Abstract

Introduction

Language impairment is frequently observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD): in this study, we investigated the extent and distribution of brain atrophy in subjects with conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD with and without naming difficulties.

Methods

This study was approved by the institutional review board and was HIPAA compliant. All subjects or their legal representatives gave informed consent for participation. Ninety-one subjects from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) with (N = 51) and without (N = 40) naming impairment as per the Boston Naming Test (BNT), underwent brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging 12 months before, at AD diagnosis, and 12 months after. Structural MR images were processed using voxel-based morphometry. Cross-sectional comparisons and mixed ANOVA models for assessing regional gray matter (GM) volume differences were performed.

Results

As from 12 months prior to AD diagnosis, patients with naming difficulties showed distinct areas of greater GM loss in the left fusiform gyrus (Brodmann area 20) than patients without naming difficulties. Differences in the GM atrophy extended to the left hemisphere in the subsequent 12 months.

Conclusion

This study provided evidence of distinct patterns and dynamics of brain atrophy in AD patients with naming difficulties when compared to those with intact language, as early as 12 months prior to AD diagnosis and in the subsequent 12 months.

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Acknowledgments

Data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (National Institutes of Health Grant U01 AG024904). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and generous contributions from the following: Abbott; Alzheimer’s Association; Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation; Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd.; AstraZeneca; Bayer HealthCare; BioClinica, Inc.; Biogen Idec Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Eisai Inc.; Elan Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and its affiliated company Genentech, Inc.; GE Healthcare; Innogenetics, N.V.; IXICO Ltd.; Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC.; Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC.; Medpace, Inc.; Merck & Co., Inc.; Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC.; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Pfizer Inc.; Servier; Synarc Inc.; and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is providing funds to support ADNI clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Rev March 26, 2012 Neuro Imaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. This research was also supported by NIH grants P30 AG010129 and K01 AG030514.

Ethical standards and patient consent

We declare that all human and animal studies have been approved by the local Institutional Review Board and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (adni.loni.ucla.edu).

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Emanuele Pravatà, Joshua Tavernier & Maria Vittoria Spampinato

  2. Department of Neuroradiology, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, Via Tesserete 46, 6900, Lugano, Switzerland

    Emanuele Pravatà

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Ryan Parker

  4. University Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia

    Hrvoje Vavro

  5. Clinical Biotechnology Research Institute, Roper Hospital, Charleston, SC, USA

    Jacobo E. Mintzer

Authors
  1. Emanuele Pravatà
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  2. Joshua Tavernier
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  6. Maria Vittoria Spampinato
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Correspondence to Emanuele Pravatà.

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Pravatà, E., Tavernier, J., Parker, R. et al. The neural correlates of anomia in the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroradiology 58, 59–67 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-015-1596-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-015-1596-3

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