Cited by 568Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatments

White matter damage in Alzheimer’s disease assessed in vivo using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging

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Bozzali, M·2002·Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the extent and the nature of white matter tissue damage of patients with Alzheimer's disease using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI). BACKGROUND: Although Alzheimer's disease pathology mainly affects cortical grey matter, previous pathological and MRI studies showed that also the brain white matter of patients is damaged. However, the nature of Alzheimer's disease associated white matter damage is still unclear. METHODS: Conventional and DT-MRI scans were obtained from 16 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 10 sex and age matched healthy volunteers. The mean diffusivity (D), fractional anisotropy (FA), and inter-voxel coherence (C) of several white matter regions were measured. RESULTS: D was higher and FA lower in the corpus callosum, as well as in the white matter of the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes from patients with Alzheimer's disease than in the corresponding regions from healthy controls. D and FA of the white matter of the occipital lobe and internal capsule were not different between patients and controls. C values were also not different between patients and controls for any of the regions studied. Strong correlations were found between the mini mental state examination score and the average overall white matter D (r=0.92, p<0.001) and FA (r=0.78; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: White matter changes in patients with Alzheimer's disease are likely to be secondary to wallerian degeneration of fibre tracts due to neuronal loss in cortical associative areas.

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Crossref · 10.1136/jnnp.72.6.742

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  • Results from DTI show that fibre tract alterations are widespread in the brain at the stage of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease dementia.

    “Results from DTI showed that fibre tract alterations are widespread in the brain at the stage of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia (Bozzali et al., 2002; Medina et al., 2006; Acosta-Cabronero et al., 2010, 2012; Sexton et al., 2011; Bosch et al., 2012; for reviews see Acosta-Cabronero and Nestor, 2014; Teipel et al., 2015).”

    From White matter diffusion alterations precede symptom onset in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (2018) · cites this paper as Bozzali et al., 2002

    The Abstract and Results report DTI abnormalities across several white-matter regions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, supporting the claim’s breadth for that group, although other regions were spared. The study examined patients with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy controls; it does not establish that these alterations are widespread at the mild cognitive impairment stage. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Diffusion MRI is more sensitive to brain microstructural changes than conventional volumetric MRI and has been widely used for evaluation of white matter integrity.

    “Compared to the conventional volumetric MRI methods, diffusion MRI (dMRI) is more sensitive to the brain microstructural changes and has been widely used for the evaluation of white matter integrity (Bozzali et al., 2002; Mielke et al., 2009; Stebbins and Murphy, 2009; Wang et al., 2019b; Harrison et al., 2020; Veale et al., 2021).”

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Le Bihan D, Turner R, Pekar J, et al. Diffusion and perfusion imaging by gradient sensitization: design, strategy and significance. J Magn Reson Imaging 1991;1:7-8.
  2. Pfefferbaum A, Sullivan EV, Hedehus M, et al. Age related decline in brain white matter anisotropy measured by spatially corrected echo-planar diffusion tensor imaging. Magn Reson Med 2000;44:259-68.
  3. Jones DK, Horsfield MA, Simmons A. Optimal strategies for measuring diffusion in anisotropic systems by magnetic resonance imaging. Magn Reson Med 1999;42:515-25.
  4. Bito Y, Hirata S, Yamamoto E. Optimal gradient factors for ADC measurements [abstract]. Proc Intl Soc Mag Reson Med 1995;2:913.

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Authors
Bozzali, M.
Affiliations
IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele (IT)
Corresponding author
Bozzali, M
Venue
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2002-06-01
Volume
72
Issue
6
Pages
742-746
ISSN
0022-3050 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2115424422
Cited by
568
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 43 · 2012: 38
FWCI
17.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele (submittedVersion)
Funders
Ministero della Salute
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
Alzheimer's disease, white matter injury, diffusion tensor imaging, mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy, corpus callosum, Wallerian degeneration, cognitive impairment
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Cerebral Cortex, Corpus Callosum, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged

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