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Do multiple system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease show distinct patterns of volumetric alterations across hippocampal subfields? An exploratory study

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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the volumetric alterations of hippocampal subfields and identify which subfields contribute to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

Thirty MSA-MCI, 26 PD-MCI, and 30 healthy controls were administered cognitive assessment, along with hippocampal segmentation using FreeSurfer 6.0 after a 3-T MRI scan. Regression analyses were performed between the volumes of hippocampal subfields and cognitive variables.

Results

Compared with healthy controls, the volume of the hippocampal fissure was enlarged in PD-MCI patients, while left Cornu Ammonis (CA2–CA3), bilateral molecular layer, bilateral hippocampus–amygdala transition area, right subiculum, right CA1, right presubiculum, right parasubiculum, and bilateral whole hippocampus were reduced in the MSA-MCI group. Moreover, volumetric reductions of the bilateral hippocampal tail, bilateral CA1, bilateral presubiculum, bilateral molecular layer, left CA2–CA3, left hippocampus–amygdala transition area, right parasubiculum, and bilateral whole hippocampus were found in MSA-MCI relative to the PD-MCI group. The volumes of the left CA2–CA3 (B = − 11.34, p = 0.006) and left parasubiculum (B = 4.63, p = 0.01) were respectively correlated with language and abstraction functions. The volumes of the left fimbria (B = 6.99, p = 0.002) and left hippocampus–amygdala transition area (B = 2.28, p = 0.009) were correlated with visuospatial/executive function.

Conclusions

The MSA-MCI patients showed more widespread impairment of hippocampal subfields compared with the PD-MCI group, involving trisynaptic loop and amygdala–hippocampus interactions. The alteration of CA, hippocampus–amygdala transition area, and fimbria still requires further comparison between the two patient groups.

Key Points

• The atrophy patterns of hippocampal subfields differed between MSA and PD patients.

• MSA has widespread change in trisynaptic loop and amygdala–hippocampus interactions.

• The atrophy patterns may help to understand the differences of cognitive impairment in MSA and PD.

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Abbreviations

CA:

Cornu Ammonis

H-Y:

Hoehn and Yahr

HC:

Healthy controls

MCI:

Mild cognitive impairment

MMSE:

Mini-Mental State Examination

MoCA:

Montreal Cognitive Assessment

MPRAGE:

Magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo

MSA-MCI:

MSA patients with MCI

MSA:

Multiple system atrophy

PD-MCI:

PD patients with MCI

PD-NCI:

PD patients with no CI

PD:

Parkinson’s disease

PDD:

Parkinson’s disease dementia

UPDRS-III:

The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale

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Funding

The authors state that this work has not received any funding.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Na Wang and Liang Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Na Wang

  2. Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

    Na Wang, HuaGuang Yang & GuoGuang Fan

  3. Department of Radiology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China

    Liang Zhang

  4. Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

    XiaoGuang Luo

Authors
  1. Na Wang
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  2. Liang Zhang
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  3. HuaGuang Yang
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  4. XiaoGuang Luo
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  5. GuoGuang Fan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to GuoGuang Fan.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Dr. GuoGuang Fan.

Conflict of interest

The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Statistics and biometry

Dr. XiaoGuang Luo kindly provided statistical advice for this manuscript.

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study.

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Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.

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• cross-sectional study

• performed at one institution

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Wang, N., Zhang, L., Yang, H. et al. Do multiple system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease show distinct patterns of volumetric alterations across hippocampal subfields? An exploratory study. Eur Radiol 29, 4948–4956 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-019-06043-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-019-06043-9

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