Precentral degeneration and cerebellar compensation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A multimodal MRI analysis

• Published in: Human brain mapping 2019-08, Vol.40 (12), p.3464-3474
• Main Authors: Qiu, Ting, Zhang, Yuanchao, Tang, Xie, Liu, Xiaoping, Wang, Yue, Zhou, Chaoyang, Luo, Chunxia, Zhang, Jiuquan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abnormalities; Adult; Aged; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - physiopathology; Anisotropy; Atrophy; Brain; Cerebellum; Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum - physiology; Compensation; Corpus callosum; Cortex (motor); Cross-Sectional Studies; Degeneration; Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Female; fractional anisotropy; functional connectivity; gray matter volume; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Intermodal; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Middle Aged; Multimodal Imaging - methods; Nerve Degeneration - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Degeneration - physiopathology; Neural networks; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurological diseases; Postcentral gyrus; Precentral gyrus; Pyramidal tracts; Structure-function relationships; Substantia alba; Substantia grisea; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24609

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and intractable neurodegenerative disease of human motor system characterized by progressive muscular weakness and atrophy. A considerable body of research has demonstrated significant structural and functional abnormalities of the primary motor cortex in patients with ALS. In contrast, much less attention has been paid to the abnormalities of cerebellum in this disease. Using multimodal magnetic resonance imagining data of 60 patients with ALS and 60 healthy controls, we examined changes in gray matter volume (GMV), white matter (WM) fractional anisotropy (FA), and functional connectivity (FC) in patients with ALS. Compared with healthy controls, patients with ALS showed decreased GMV in the left precentral gyrus and increased GMV in bilateral cerebellum, decreased FA in the left corticospinal tract and body of corpus callosum, and decreased FC in multiple brain regions, involving bilateral postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus and cerebellum anterior lobe, among others. Meanwhile, we found significant intermodal correlations among GMV of left precentral gyrus, FA of altered WM tracts, and FC of left precentral gyrus, and that WM microstructural alterations seem to play important roles in mediating the relationship between GMV and FC of the precentral gyrus, as well as the relationship between GMVs of the precentral gyrus and cerebellum. These findings provided evidence for the precentral degeneration and cerebellar compensation in ALS, and the involvement of WM alterations in mediating the relationship between pathologies of the primary motor cortex and cerebellum, which may contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of ALS.