Abstract
Atrophy of cholinergic basal forebrain (BF) nuclei is a frequent finding in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetry studies that examined patients with prodromal or clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD), but less clear for individuals in earlier stages of the clinical AD continuum. To examine BF volume reductions in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) participants with AD pathologic changes. The present study compared MRI-based BF volume measurements in age- and sex-matched samples of N = 24 amyloid-positive and N = 24 amyloid-negative SCD individuals, based on binary visual ratings of Florbetaben positron emission tomography (PET) measurements. Additionally, we assessed associations of BF volume with cortical amyloid burden, based on semiquantitative Centiloid (CL) analyses. Group differences approached significance for BF total volume (p = 0.061) and the Ch4 subregion (p = 0.059) only, showing the expected relative volume reductions for the amyloid-positive subgroup. There were also significant inverse correlations between BF volumes and CL values, which again were most robust for BF total volume and the Ch4 subregion. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that amyloid-positive SCD individuals, which are considered to represent a transitional stage on the clinical AD continuum, already show incipient alterations of BF integrity. The negative association with a continuous measure of cortical amyloid burden also suggests that this may reflect an incremental process. Yet, further research is needed to evaluate whether BF changes already emerge at "grey zone" levels of amyloid accumulation, before amyloidosis is reliably detected by PET visual readings.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.