Affiliations: [a] Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, Department of Neurology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary | [b] International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic | [c] Neuroscience Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary | [d] Memory Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Motol University Hospital, Czech Republic | [e] Department of Radiology, Charles University, 2nd Medical Faculty and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: László Vécsei, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Semmelweis u. 6, 6725-Szeged, Hungary. E-mail: vecsei.laszlo@med.u-szeged.hu.
Abstract: Several recent studies have indicated that white matter is affected in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Diffusion tensor imaging is a tool by which the white matter microstructure can be examined in vivo, and might offer a possibility for the identification of the pattern of white matter disintegration in AD. In the current analysis, we made use of a novel model-free analysis approach of linked independent component analysis to identify a motif of diffusion parameter alterations exemplifying AD. Analysis of the diffusion data of 16 AD patients and 17 age-matched healthy subjects revealed six independent components, two of which demonstrated differences between the patients and controls. Component #0 was dominated by axial diffusivity, but significant alterations in fractional anisotropy and mean and radial diffusivity were also detected. Alterations were found in regions of crossing of major white matter pathways, such as forceps, corona radiate, and superior longitudinal fascicle, as well as medio-temporal white matter. These results lend support to the coexistence of white matter disintegration of the late myelinating associating fibers and wallerian degeneration-related disintegration, in accordance with the retrogenesis and wallerian degeneration hypothesis.
