Cerebellar Cortex and Cerebellar White Matter Volume in Normal Cognition, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Dementia

Nauris Zdanovskis; Ardis Platkājis; Andrejs Kostiks; Oļesja Grigorjeva; Guntis Karelis

doi:10.3390/brainsci11091134

Cerebellar Cortex and Cerebellar White Matter Volume in Normal Cognition, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Dementia

Brain Sci. 2021 Aug 26;11(9):1134. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11091134.

Authors

Nauris Zdanovskis^{1

2}, Ardis Platkājis^{1

2}, Andrejs Kostiks³, Oļesja Grigorjeva⁴, Guntis Karelis³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Riga Stradins University, Dzirciema Street 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia.
² Department of Radiology, Riga East University Hospital, Hipokrata Street 2, LV-1038 Riga, Latvia.
³ Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Riga East University Hospital, Hipokrata Street 2, LV-1038 Riga, Latvia.
⁴ Department of Computer Control Systems, Riga Technical University, Kaļķu Street 1, LV-1658 Riga, Latvia.

Abstract

The cerebellum is commonly viewed as a structure that is primarily responsible for the coordination of voluntary movement, gait, posture, and speech. Recent research has shown evidence that the cerebellum is also responsible for cognition. We analyzed 28 participants divided into three groups (9 with normal cognition, 9 with mild cognitive impairment, and 10 with moderate/severe cognitive impairment) based on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. We analyzed the cerebellar cortex and white matter volume and assessed differences between groups. Participants with normal cognition had higher average values in total cerebellar volume, cerebellar white matter volume, and cerebellar cortex volume in both hemispheres, but by performing the Kruskal-Wallis test, we did not find these values to be statistically significant.

Keywords: MRI; cerebellum; cognitive impairment; cortex; dementia; volumetry; white matter.