Cortical thickness atrophy in the transentorhinal cortex in mild cognitive impairment

Sue Kulason; Daniel J Tward; Timothy Brown; Chelsea S Sicat; Chin-Fu Liu; J Tilak Ratnanather; Laurent Younes; Arnold Bakker; Michela Gallagher; Marilyn Albert; Michael I Miller; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2018.101617

Cortical thickness atrophy in the transentorhinal cortex in mild cognitive impairment

Neuroimage Clin. 2019:21:101617. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.101617. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Affiliations

¹ Center for Imaging Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Electronic address: skulaso1@cis.jhu.edu.
² Center for Imaging Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
³ Center for Imaging Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
⁴ Center for Imaging Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁵ Center for Imaging Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Arts and Sciences, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
⁸ Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

Abstract

This study examines the atrophy rates of subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to controls in four regions within the medial temporal lobe: the transentorhinal cortex (TEC), entorhinal cortex (ERC), hippocampus, and amygdala. These regions were manually segmented and then corrected for undesirable longitudinal variability via Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping (LDDMM) based longitudinal diffeomorphometry. Diffeomorphometry techniques were used to compare thickness measurements in the TEC with the ERC. There were more significant changes in thickness atrophy rate in the TEC than medial regions of the entorhinal cortex. Volume measures were also calculated for all four regions. Classifiers were constructed using linear discriminant analysis to demonstrate that average thickness and atrophy rate of TEC together was the most discriminating measure compared to the thickness and volume measures in the areas examined, in differentiating MCI from controls. These findings are consistent with autopsy findings demonstrating that initial neuronal changes are found in TEC before spreading more medially in the ERC and to other regions in the medial temporal lobe. These findings suggest that the TEC thickness could serve as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease in the prodromal phase of the disease.

Keywords: Braak staging; Cortical thickness; Entorhinal cortex; Longitudinal analysis; Mild cognitive impairment; Shape analysis; Transentorhinal cortex.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Aged
Amygdala / diagnostic imaging
Amygdala / pathology
Atrophy
Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain / pathology*
Cognitive Dysfunction / diagnostic imaging
Cognitive Dysfunction / pathology*
Entorhinal Cortex / diagnostic imaging
Entorhinal Cortex / pathology
Female
Hippocampus / diagnostic imaging
Hippocampus / pathology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male

Cortical thickness atrophy in the transentorhinal cortex in mild cognitive impairment

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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