MRI Volumetric Analysis of the Thalamus and Hypothalamus in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Shan Ye; Yishan Luo; Pingping Jin; Yajun Wang; Nan Zhang; Gan Zhang; Lu Chen; Lin Shi; Dongsheng Fan

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.610332

MRI Volumetric Analysis of the Thalamus and Hypothalamus in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Jan 3:13:610332. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.610332. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Shan Ye^{1

2}, Yishan Luo^{3

4}, Pingping Jin^{1

2}, Yajun Wang^{1

2}, Nan Zhang^{1

2}, Gan Zhang^{1

2}, Lu Chen^{1

2}, Lin Shi^{3

4}, Dongsheng Fan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Biomarker and Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, Beijing, China.
³ Brain Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Background: Increasing evidence has shown that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can result in abnormal energy metabolism and sleep disorders, even before motor dysfunction. Although the hypothalamus and thalamus are important structures in these processes, few ALS studies have reported abnormal MRI structural findings in the hypothalamus and thalamus. Purpose: We aimed to investigate volumetric changes in the thalamus and hypothalamus by using the automatic brain structure volumetry tool AccuBrain^®. Methods: 3D T1-weighted magnetization-prepared gradient echo imaging (MPRAGE) scans were acquired from 16 patients with ALS with normal cognitive scores and 16 age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls. Brain tissue and structure volumes were automatically calculated using AccuBrain^®. Results: There were no significant differences in bilateral thalamic (F = 1.31, p = 0.287) or hypothalamic volumes (F = 1.65, p = 0.213) between the ALS and control groups by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Left and right hypothalamic volumes were correlated with whole-brain volume in patients with ALS (t = 3.19, p = 0.036; t = 3.03, p = 0.044), while the correlation between age and bilateral thalamic volumes tended to be significant after Bonferroni correction (t = 2.76, p = 0.068; t = 2.83, p = 0.06). In the control group, left and right thalamic volumes were correlated with whole-brain volume (t = 4.26, p = 0.004; t = 4.52, p = 0.004). Conclusion: Thalamic and hypothalamic volumes did not show differences between patients with normal frontotemporal function ALS and healthy controls, but further studies are still needed.

Keywords: MRI; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; hypothalamus; thalamus; volumetric analysis.