Cortico-basal white matter alterations occurring in Parkinson's disease

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 19;14(8):e0214343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214343. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging studies typically use standard anatomical atlases for identification and analyses of (patho-)physiological effects on specific brain areas; these atlases often fail to incorporate neuroanatomical alterations that may occur with both age and disease. The present study utilizes Parkinson's disease and age-specific anatomical atlases of the subthalamic nucleus for diffusion tractography, assessing tracts that run between the subthalamic nucleus and a-priori defined cortical areas known to be affected by Parkinson's disease. The results show that the strength of white matter fiber tracts appear to remain structurally unaffected by disease. Contrary to that, Fractional Anisotropy values were shown to decrease in Parkinson's disease patients for connections between the subthalamic nucleus and the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the pre-supplementary motor, collectively involved in preparatory motor control, decision making and task monitoring. While the biological underpinnings of fractional anisotropy alterations remain elusive, they may nonetheless be used as an index of Parkinson's disease. Moreover, we find that failing to account for structural changes occurring in the subthalamic nucleus with age and disease reduce the accuracy and influence the results of tractography, highlighting the importance of using appropriate atlases for tractography.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Atlases as Topic
  • Basal Ganglia / diagnostic imaging
  • Basal Ganglia / pathology
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cerebral Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Diffusion Tensor Imaging
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Anatomic
  • Models, Statistical
  • Neural Pathways / diagnostic imaging
  • Neural Pathways / pathology
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnostic imaging
  • Parkinson Disease / pathology*
  • Subthalamic Nucleus / diagnostic imaging
  • Subthalamic Nucleus / pathology
  • White Matter / diagnostic imaging
  • White Matter / pathology*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by an ERC grant from the European Research Council (https://erc.europa.eu/, B. U. Forstmann, Stg: 313481) and a Vici grant from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (https://www.nwo.nl/en, B. U. Forstmann, 016.Vici.185.052). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.