Analysis of Gray Matter in AD Patients and MCI Subjects Based Voxel-Based Morphometry

Abstract

In recent years, pathological researches of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects and the Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients have gained a great deal of attention. In this study, we used the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method to analyze the Magnatic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data of gray matter volumes in 98 normal controls (NCs), 91 AD patients and 113 MCI subjects. The measurements of gray matter volumes were calculated for each of the three groups respectively. We found that compared with MCI subjects, AD patients had further atrophy in the following brain regions: right insula, left hippocampus, right fusiform and bilateral middle temporal gyrus. Compared with NCs, AD patients and MCI subjects shared some abnormal brain regions such as bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral hippocampus, left amygdala and left fusiform. The results provided additional evidences to support the viewpoint that MCI is the transitional stage between normal aging and AD.