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Cingulum Correlates of Cognitive Functions in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer’s Disease: A Diffusion Spectrum Imaging Study

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Abstract

Diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) of MRI can detect neural fiber tract changes. We investigated integrity of cingulum bundle (CB) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer’s disease (EAD) using DSI tractography and explored its relationship with cognitive functions. We recruited 8 patients with MCI, 9 with EAD and 15 healthy controls (HC). All subjects received a battery of neuropsychological tests to access their executive, memory and language functions. We used a 3.0-tesla MRI scanner to obtain T1- and T2-weighted images for anatomy and used a pulsed gradient twice-refocused spin-echo diffusion echo-planar imaging sequence to acquire DSI. Patients with EAD performed significantly poorer than the HC on most tests in executive and memory functions. Significantly smaller general fractional anisotropy (GFA) values were found in the posterior and inferior segments of left CB and of the anterior segment of right CB of the EAD compared with those of the HC. Spearman’s correlation on the patient groups showed that GFA values of the posterior segment of the left CB were significantly negatively associated with the time used to complete Color Trails Test Part II and positively correlated with performance of the logical memory and visual reproduction. GFA values of inferior segment of bilateral CB were positively associated with the performance of visual recognition. DSI tractography demonstrates significant preferential degeneration of the CB on the left side in patients with EAD. The location-specific degeneration is associated with corresponding declines in both executive and memory functions.

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Acknowledgments

The research was in part supported by Grants from the National Science Committee Taiwan (NSC 99-2314-B-002-090 and NSC100-2314-B-002-006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No. 7, S. 1, Chung-Shan S. Rd., Taipei, 100, Taiwan

    Ta-Fu Chen & Ming-Jang Chiu

  2. School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No. 17, XuZhou Rd, Taipei, 100, Taiwan

    Yi-Cheng Lin, Yu-Hsiu Chu, Meng-Tien Wu & Pei-Fang Tang

  3. Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wen-Yih I. Tseng, Pei-Fang Tang & Ming-Jang Chiu

  4. Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wen-Yih I. Tseng, Pei-Fang Tang & Ming-Jang Chiu

  5. Center for Optoelectronic Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yao-Chia Shih & Wen-Yih I. Tseng

  6. Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wen-Yih I. Tseng

  7. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Yi-Cheng Lin

  8. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yao-Chia Shih

  9. Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Yu-Hsiu Chu

  10. Rehabilitation Center, Cardinal Tien Hospital Yunghe Branch, Taipei, Taiwan

    Meng-Tien Wu

  11. Physical Therapy Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Pei-Fang Tang

  12. Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ming-Jang Chiu

  13. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ming-Jang Chiu

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  1. Yi-Cheng Lin
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  2. Yao-Chia Shih
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  5. Meng-Tien Wu
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  6. Ta-Fu Chen
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  8. Ming-Jang Chiu
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Correspondence to Pei-Fang Tang or Ming-Jang Chiu.

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Lin, YC., Shih, YC., Tseng, WY.I. et al. Cingulum Correlates of Cognitive Functions in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer’s Disease: A Diffusion Spectrum Imaging Study. Brain Topogr 27, 393–402 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-013-0346-2

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