Cited by 514Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatments

DTI measures in crossing-fibre areas: increased diffusion anisotropy reveals early white matter alteration in MCI and mild Alzheimer’s disease

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Douaud, Gwenaëlle, Jbabdi, Saâd, Behrens, Timothy E.J., Menke, Ricarda A., Gass, Achim, Monsch, Andreas U., Rao, Anil, Whitcher, Brandon +3 more·2011·NeuroImage

Abstract

Though mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate clinical state between healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD), there are very few whole-brain voxel-wise diffusion MRI studies directly comparing changes in healthy control, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD subjects. Here we report whole-brain findings from a comprehensive study of diffusion tensor indices and probabilistic tractography obtained in a very large population of healthy controls, MCI and probable AD subjects. As expected from the literature, all diffusion indices converged to show that the cingulum bundle, the uncinate fasciculus, the entire corpus callosum and the superior longitudinal fasciculus are the most affected white matter tracts in AD. Significant differences between MCI and AD were essentially confined to the corpus callosum. More importantly, we introduce for the first time in a degenerative disorder an application of a recently developed tensor index, the "mode" of anisotropy, as well as probabilistic crossing-fibre tractography. The mode of anisotropy specifies the type of anisotropy as a continuous measure reflecting differences in shape of the diffusion tensor ranging from planar (e.g., in regions of crossing fibres from two fibre populations of similar density or regions of "kissing" fibres) to linear (e.g., in regions where one fibre population orientation predominates), while probabilistic crossing-fibre tractography allows to accurately trace pathways from a crossing-fibre region. Remarkably, when looking for whole-brain diffusion differences between MCI patients and healthy subjects, the only region with significant abnormalities was a region of crossing fibres in the centrum semiovale, showing an increased mode of anisotropy. The only white matter region demonstrating a significant difference in correlations between neuropsychological scores and a diffusion measure (mode of anisotropy) across the three groups was the same region of crossing fibres. Further examination using probabilistic tractography established explicitly and quantitatively that this previously unreported increase of mode and co-localised increase of fractional anisotropy was explained by a relative preservation of motor-related projection fibres (at this early stage of the disease) crossing the association fibres of the superior longitudinal fasciculus. These findings emphasise the benefit of looking at the more complex regions in which spared and affected pathways are crossing to detect very early alterations of the white matter that could not be detected in regions consisting of one fibre population only. Finally, the methods used in this study may have general applicability for other degenerative disorders and, beyond the clinical sphere, they could contribute to a better quantification and understanding of subtle effects generated by normal processes such as visuospatial attention or motor learning.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.008

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  • Major fibre tracts such as the forceps major and forceps minor, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus as well as the posterior cingulum show white matter alterations in Alzheimer's disease dementia.

    “In particular, major fibre tracts such as the forceps major and forceps minor, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus as well as the posterior cingulum show white matter alterations in Alzheimer’s disease dementia (Taylor et al., 2001; Teipel et al., 2002; Douaud et al., 2011; Mito et al., 2018).”

    From White matter diffusion alterations precede symptom onset in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (2018) · cites this paper as Douaud et al., 2011

    The Results (page unavailable) report white matter diffusion abnormalities in the corpus callosum and the dorsal and posterior cingulum in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. They do not identify the forceps major or forceps minor separately, or report alterations in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; those tract-specific parts of the claim are not supported by this paper. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • DTI alterations observed in the corticospinal tract in the current study cannot be unambiguously attributed to that tract and may be due to alterations in crossing fibres such as the superior longitudinal fasciculus or corpus callosum.

    “DTI alterations such as those observed in the corticospinal tract in the current study should be interpreted with caution, as the current TBSS approach cannot be unambiguously attributed to that tract, but potentially are because of alterations in crossing fibres such as the superior longitudinal fasciculus or corpus callosum (Douaud et al., 2011; Teipel et al., 2014; Mito et al., 2018).”

    From White matter diffusion alterations precede symptom onset in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (2018) · cites this paper as Douaud et al., 2011

    The Results (page unavailable) locate a diffusion change where corticospinal projection fibres cross the superior longitudinal fasciculus; the Discussion says that the change reflected affected SLF fibres alongside relatively spared motor fibres. This supports caution about assigning a DTI change to the corticospinal tract alone. The paper discusses corpus callosum abnormalities separately, but does not identify the corpus callosum as a crossing fibre responsible for the corticospinal-region finding. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • In healthy tissue with crossing fibers, the DTI model may show low FA; FADTI may paradoxically appear to increase in regions where crossing fibers deteriorate in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD.

    “In healthy tissue with crossing fibers, the DTI model may show low FA. FADTI may paradoxically appear to increase in regions where crossing fibers deteriorate in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD (Douaud et al., 2011).”

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Authors
Douaud, G., Jbabdi, S., Behrens, T. E. J., Menke, R. A., Gass, A., Monsch, A. U., Rao, A., Whitcher, B., Kindlmann, G., Matthews, P. M., & Smith, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • University Hospital of Basel (CH)
  • GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom) (GB)
  • University of Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Douaud, Gwenaëlle
Venue
NeuroImage
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-04
Volume
55
Issue
3
Pages
880-890
ISSN
1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2151712416
Cited by
514
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 39
FWCI
26.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • UK Medical Research Council
  • Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
Keywords
mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, white matter microstructure, crossing fibers, diffusion anisotropy, probabilistic tractography, centrum semiovale, superior longitudinal fasciculus, corpus callosum, cingulum, uncinate fasciculus, fractional anisotropy
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Algorithms, Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Middle Aged, Young Adult, Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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