MRI data confirm the selective involvement of thalamic and amygdalar nuclei in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis

Rangariroyashe H Chipika; We Fong Siah; Stacey Li Hi Shing; Eoin Finegan; Mary Clare McKenna; Foteini Christidi; Kai Ming Chang; Efstratios Karavasilis; Alice Vajda; Jennifer C Hengeveld; Mark A Doherty; Colette Donaghy; Siobhan Hutchinson; Russell L McLaughlin; Orla Hardiman; Peter Bede

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2020.106246

MRI data confirm the selective involvement of thalamic and amygdalar nuclei in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis

Data Brief. 2020 Sep 1:32:106246. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.106246. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Rangariroyashe H Chipika¹, We Fong Siah¹, Stacey Li Hi Shing¹, Eoin Finegan¹, Mary Clare McKenna¹, Foteini Christidi², Kai Ming Chang^{1

3}, Efstratios Karavasilis⁴, Alice Vajda⁵, Jennifer C Hengeveld⁵, Mark A Doherty⁵, Colette Donaghy⁶, Siobhan Hutchinson⁷, Russell L McLaughlin⁵, Orla Hardiman¹, Peter Bede¹

Affiliations

¹ Computational Neuroimaging Group, Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
² First Department of Neurology, Aeginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
³ Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, United Kingdom.
⁴ 2nd Department of Radiology, Attikon University Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁵ Complex Trait Genomics Laboratory, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Western Health & Social Care Trust, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Neurology, St James's Hospital Dublin, Ireland.

Abstract

A standardised imaging protocol was implemented to evaluate disease burden in specific thalamic and amygdalar nuclei in 133 carefully phenotyped and genotyped motor neuron disease patients. "Switchboard malfunction in motor neuron diseases: selective pathology of thalamic nuclei in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis" [1] "Amygdala pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis" [2] Raw volumetric data, group comparisons, effect sizes and percentage change are presented. Both ALS and PLS patients exhibited focal thalamus atrophy in ventral lateral and ventral anterior regions revealing extrapyramidal motor degeneration. Reduced accessory basal nucleus and cortical nucleus volumes were noted in the amygdala of C9orf72 negative ALS patients compared to healthy controls. ALS patients carrying the GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeats in C9orf72 exhibited preferential pathology in the mediodorsal-paratenial-reuniens thalamic nuclei and in the lateral nucleus and cortico-amygdaloid transition area of the amygdala. Considerable thalamic atrophy was observed in the sensory nuclei and lateral geniculate region of PLS patients. Our data demonstrate genotype-specific patterns of thalamus and amygdala involvement in ALS and a distinct disease-burden pattern in PLS. The dataset may be utilised for validation purposes, meta-analyses and the interpretation of thalamic and amygdalar profiles from other ALS genotypes.

Keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Motor neuron disease; Neuroimaging; Primary lateral sclerosis; Thalamus.