The superficial white matter in Alzheimer's disease

• Published in: Human brain mapping 2016-04, Vol.37 (4), p.1321-1334
• Main Authors: Phillips, Owen R, Joshi, Shantanu H., Piras, Fabrizio, Orfei, Maria Donata, Iorio, Mariangela, Narr, Katherine L., Shattuck, David W., Caltagirone, Carlo, Spalletta, Gianfranco, Di Paola, Margherita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - diagnostic imaging; Alzheimer Disease - metabolism; diffusion; Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; DTI; Female; Humans; interstitial neurons; intracortical myelin; Male; neurodegeneration; oligodendrocytes; short-range association fibers; U-fibers; white matter; White Matter - diagnostic imaging; White Matter - metabolism
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23105

White matter abnormalities have been shown in the large deep fibers of Alzheimer's disease patients. However, the late myelinating superficial white matter comprised of intracortical myelin and short‐range association fibers has not received much attention. To investigate this area, we extracted a surface corresponding to the superficial white matter beneath the cortex and then applied a cortical pattern‐matching approach which allowed us to register and subsequently sample diffusivity along thousands of points at the interface between the gray matter and white matter in 44 patients with Alzheimer's disease (Age: 71.02 ± 5.84, 16M/28F) and 47 healthy controls (Age 69.23 ± 4.45, 19M/28F). In patients we found an overall increase in the axial and radial diffusivity across most of the superficial white matter (P