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Neural Correlate of Anterograde Amnesia in Wernicke–Korsakoff Syndrome

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Abstract

The neural correlate of anterograde amnesia in Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) is still debated. While the capacity to learn new information has been associated with integrity of the medial temporal lobe (MTL), previous studies indicated that the WKS is associated with diencephalic lesions, mainly in the mammillary bodies and anterior or dorsomedial thalamic nuclei. The present study tested the hypothesis that amnesia in WKS is associated with a disrupted neural circuit between diencephalic and hippocampal structures. High-density evoked potentials were recorded in four severely amnesic patients with chronic WKS, in five patients with chronic alcoholism without WKS, and in ten age matched controls. Participants performed a continuous recognition task of pictures previously shown to induce a left medial temporal lobe dependent positive potential between 250 and 350 ms. In addition, the integrity of the fornix was assessed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). WKS, but not alcoholic patients without WKS, showed absence of the early, left MTL dependent positive potential following immediate picture repetitions. DTI indicated disruption of the fornix, which connects diencephalic and hippocampal structures. The findings support an interpretation of anterograde amnesia in WKS as a consequence of a disconnection between diencephalic and MTL structures with deficient contribution of the MTL to rapid consolidation.

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Acknowledgments

Study supported by Swiss National Science Foundation Grant no. 320030-132447 to AS and by the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM) of the Geneva and Lausanne Universities, the EPFL and the Geneva and Lausanne University Hospitals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cognitive Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Dermatology, Medical Faculty, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Louis Nahum, Jean-Michel Pignat, Aurélie Bouzerda-Wahlen, Damien Gabriel, Maria Chiara Liverani, Radek Ptak, Adrian G. Guggisberg & Armin Schnider

  2. Division of Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospitals of Geneva, Av. de Beau-Séjour 26, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland

    Louis Nahum, Radek Ptak, Adrian G. Guggisberg & Armin Schnider

  3. Division of Radiology, Department of Neuroscience and Department of Neurology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Jean-Michel Pignat, François Lazeyras, Jonas Richiardi & Sven Haller

  4. Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Standford, CA, USA

    Jonas Richiardi

  5. Division of Addictology, Department of Psychiatry, University Hopsitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Gabriel Thorens & Daniele F. Zullino

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  1. Louis Nahum
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Nahum, L., Pignat, JM., Bouzerda-Wahlen, A. et al. Neural Correlate of Anterograde Amnesia in Wernicke–Korsakoff Syndrome. Brain Topogr 28, 760–770 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-014-0391-5

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