Multimodal Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis of White Matter Abnormalities in Alzheimer’s Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Yin, Rui-Hua^a | Tan, Lan^{a; b; c; *} | Liu, Yong^d | Wang, Wen-Ying^a | Wang, Hui-Fu^c | Jiang, Teng^c | Joaquim Radua, ^{e; f} | Zhang, Yu^g | Gao, Junling^h | Canu, Elisaⁱ | Migliaccio, Raffaella^{j; k} | Filippi, Massimo^{i; l} | Gorno-Tempini, Maria Luisa^m | Yu, Jin-Tai^{a; c; m; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, School of Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China | [b] College of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China | [c] Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Qingdao, China | [d] Brainnetome Center, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China | [e] Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK | [f] Research Unit, FIDMAG – CIBERSAM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain | [g] Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA | [h] Department of Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR | [i] Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Via Olgettina, Milan, Italy | [j] INSERM, U1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere (ICM), Hopital de la Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France | [k] Department of Neurology, Institut de la memoire et de la maladie d’Alzheimer, Hopital de la Pitie-Salpetriere, AP-HP, Paris, France | [l] Department of Neurology, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy | [m] Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Jin-Tai Yu, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, Box 1207, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. E-mails: yujintai@163.com or jintai.yu@ucsf.edu

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Lan Tan MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, School of Medicine, Qingdao University, No.5 Donghai Middle Road,Qingdao, Shandong Province 266071, China. Tel.: +1 415 514 5745;Fax: +1 415 476 0679; dr.tanlan@163.com

Abstract: An increasing number of MRI investigations suggest that patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) show not only gray matter decreases but also white matter (WM) abnormalities, including WM volume (WMV) deficits and integrity disruption of WM pathways. In this study, we applied multimodal voxel-wise meta-analytical methods to study WMV and fractional anisotropy in AD. Fourteen studies including 723 participants (340 with AD and 383 controls) were involved. The meta-analysis was performed using effect size signed differential mapping. Significant WMV reductions were observed in bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, splenium of corpus callosum, right parahippocampal gyrus, and hippocampus. Decreased fractional anisotropy was identified mainly in left posterior limb of internal capsule, left anterior corona radiata, left thalamus, and left caudate nucleus. Significant decreases of both WMV and fractional anisotropy were found in left caudate nucleus, left superior corona radiata, and right inferior temporal gyrus. Most findings showed to be highly replicable in the jackknife sensitivity analyses. In conclusion, AD patients show widespread WM abnormalities mainly in bilateral structures related to advanced mental and nervous activities.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, diffusion tension imaging, fractional anisotropy, magnetic resonance imaging, voxel-based morphometry, white matter

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-150139

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 495-507, 2015