Abstract
The purpose of this exploratory research is to provide data on synaptopathy in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Twelve patients with probable bvFTD were compared to 12 control participants and 12 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Loss of synaptic projections was assessed with [18F]UCBH-PET. Total distribution volume was obtained with Logan method using carotid artery derived input function. Neuroimages were analyzed with SPM12. Verbal fluency, episodic memory and awareness of cognitive impairment were equally impaired in patients groups. Compared to controls, [18F]UCBH uptake tended to decrease in the right anterior parahippocampal gyrus of bvFTD patients. Loss of synaptic projections was observed in the right hippocampus of AD participants, but there was no significant difference in [18F]UCBH brain uptake between patients groups. Anosognosia for clinical disorder was correlated with synaptic density in the caudate nucleus and the anteromedial prefrontal cortex. This study suggests that synaptopathy in bvFTD targets the temporal social brain and self-referential processes.
Highlights
There was no significant difference between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and bvFTD groups
The correlation is significant (R = 0.70 and p = 0.010). This exploratory study showed a trend for synaptic loss measured in vivo with SV2A-PET in the anterior parahippocampal gyrus of our sample of bvFTD patients, while atrophy was predominant in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
The anterior parahippocampal region corresponds to the rostral perirhinal cortex, that shows high probabilities of connection with the temporal pole, the orbital frontal regions and the frontal pole in the literature[22] and in our connectivity analysis of fMRI in an independent sample of healthy elderly volunteers
Summary
The aim of this study was to measure brain synaptic density in vivo using synaptic vesicle protein 2A-PET in patients with bvFTD13–15
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