Abstract
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that both gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) are altered in several morphological aspects in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the relations between GM and WM measures and their contributions to clinical features remain in doubt. In this study, we acquired high-resolution diffusion tensor imaging along with structural magnetic resonance imaging data on 20 patients with clinical evidence of ALS and 21 matched healthy controls. WM microstructural metrics and cortical thickness were measured to characterize the whole brain WM and GM degenerative patterns. Probabilistic diffusion tractography was used to reconstruct the tracts from the WM regions characterized by fractional anisotropy (FA) decrease in patients. Decreased FA and increased radial diffusivity was observed in WM regions of the bilateral corticospinal tracts (CST) and callosal motor fibers in the ALS patients, while the superior longitudinal fasciculus exhibited a changing trend. Cortical thinning was found in the anatomically congruent regions, including the motor-related cortices (i.e., bilateral precentral gyri, dorsal premotor cortices, and left supplementary motor area), prefrontal and occipito-parietal regions. However, there was no significant relationship between FA reduction and cortical thinning. Finally, patients with faster clinical progression showed more severe cortical thinning of the left precentral gyrus and FA reduction of the left CST. Together, these findings suggest that ALS is multisystem degeneration involving both the widespread cortices and the underlying WM fibers. GM and WM changes might play distinct roles in the disease progression.
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Abbreviations
- AD:
-
Axial diffusivity
- ALS:
-
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- ALSFRS-R:
-
ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised
- CST:
-
Corticospinal tracts
- DTI:
-
Diffusion tensor imaging
- FA:
-
Fractional anisotropy
- FWE:
-
Family-wise error
- GM:
-
Gray matter
- MNI:
-
Montreal Neurological Institute
- MRI:
-
Magnetic resonance imaging
- preCG:
-
Precentral gyri
- RD:
-
Radial diffusivity
- ROI:
-
Regions of interest
- SLF:
-
Superior longitudinal fasciculus
- SMA:
-
Supplementary motor areas
- TBSS:
-
Tract-based spatial statistics
- TE:
-
Echo time
- TR:
-
Repetition time
- WM:
-
White matter
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This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scholars (No. 81301205).
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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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J. Zhang and X. Yin contributed equally to this paper.
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Zhang, J., Yin, X., Zhao, L. et al. Regional alterations in cortical thickness and white matter integrity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neurol 261, 412–421 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-013-7215-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-013-7215-5