Brain hemodynamic changes in amnestic mild cognitive impairment measured by pulsed arterial spin labeling.

Xiangbin Wang,Ling Peng,Qian Xi,Pei-Jun Wang,Xiaowen Xu,Wei Wang,Qianhua Zhao,Qihao Guo,Zhang Min,Xiaohu Zhao,Xiaoniu Liang,Ding Ding

doi:10.18632/aging.102888

Abstract

We used pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) to investigate differences in cerebral blood flow (CBF) between 26 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and 27 controls with normal cognition (NC). Hypoperfusion was observed in the right temporal pole of the middle temporal gyrus and the right inferior temporal gyrus in the aMCI compared with NC group. Interestingly, hyperperfusion was observed in the left temporal pole of the middle temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, postcentral gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, and right angular gyrus in the aMCI group, which likely resulted from a compensatory mechanism to maintain advanced neural activities. We found that mean CBF in the right inferior temporal gyrus, precuneus, and postcentral gyrus was positively correlated with cognitive ability in the aMCI but not NC group. Collectively, our data indicate that PASL is a useful noninvasive technique for monitoring changes in CBF and predicting cognitive decline in aMCI.

Highlights

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate stage between normal aging and dementia
Hypoperfusion was observed in the right temporal pole of the middle temporal gyrus and the right inferior temporal gyrus in the amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) compared with normal cognition (NC) group
We found that mean cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the right inferior temporal gyrus, precuneus, and postcentral gyrus was positively correlated with cognitive ability in the aMCI but not NC group

Summary

Introduction

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate stage between normal aging and dementia. Amnestic MCI (aMCI) is characterized by memory impairment and is considered to be a prodromal stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [1]. Accurate diagnosis and timely intervention in patients with aMCI could reduce the rate of conversion to AD [5]. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used to study neurodegenerative diseases [6]. Reduced CBF has been observed in AD patients, indicating that vascular factors play a critical role in the pathogenesis of the disease [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Other studies have observed www.aging-us.com increases in CBF in the left hippocampus, right amygdala, rostral head of the right caudate nucleus, ventral putamen, and globus pallidus in MCI patients [16]. Differences in sample size, participants, methodology, and etiology may account for the variable study results [17, 18]

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