scholarly journals Abnormal Brain Development in Huntington’ Disease Is Recapitulated in the zQ175 Knock-In Mouse Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuangchuang Zhang ◽  
Qian Wu ◽  
Hongshuai Liu ◽  
Liam Cheng ◽  
Zhipeng Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Postnatal Period ◽  
System Level ◽  
Gene Therapies ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mri Scans

Abstract Emerging cellular and molecular studies are providing compelling evidence that altered brain development contributes to the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease (HD). There has been lacking longitudinal system-level data obtained from in vivo HD models supporting this hypothesis. Our human MRI study in children and adolescents with HD indicates that striatal development differs between the HD and control groups, with initial hypertrophy and more rapid volume decline in HD group. In this study, we aimed to determine whether brain development recapitulates the human HD during the postnatal period. Longitudinal structural MRI scans were conducted in the heterozygous zQ175 HD mice and their littermate controls. We found that male zQ175 HD mice recapitulated the region-specific abnormal volume development in the striatum and globus pallidus, with early hypertrophy and then rapidly decline in the regional volume. In contrast, female zQ175 HD mice did not show significant difference in brain volume development with their littermate controls. This is the first longitudinal study of brain volume development at the system level in HD mice. Our results suggest that altered brain development may contribute to the HD pathogenesis. The potential effect of gene therapies targeting on neurodevelopmental event is worth to consider for HD therapeutic intervention.

MRI Characteristic of Cerebral White Matter Maturation Patterns in Normal Infants of Assisted Reproductive

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Wu ◽  
Junfeng Wang ◽  
Libo Zou ◽  
Xiaojian Cui ◽  
Youcheng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Cerebral White Matter ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Brain Scans ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background Assisted reproductive technology (ART) such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) has been essential in the treatment of infertility, and the number of children born after these procedures has now passed 5 million worldwide. Children born after medically assisted reproduction are at higher risk of adverse birth outcomes than are children conceived naturally. In this study, we leveraged MRI technology to investigate whether ART pregnancy methods: intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and ET have any effect on the brain development of offspring by comparing with the NAT pregnancy method. Methods A total of 75 infants were recruited in the study from 3 conception groups: 25 children born after ICSI, 25 children born after IVF-ET and 25 children born after natural pregnancy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans provide exceptionally detailed information on how the human brain changes throughout childhood, adolescence, and old age. The use of MRI in the evaluation of the developing brain is well established. Results The results of routine brain scans on T1WI and T2WI showed that there was no significant difference among the 5-7, 11-13, and 23-25 months of infants among ET, ICSI, and NAT groups. The MRI values fluctuate at different time points indicating that they may change with the development of the brain. However, they are on a similar level for different conception groups supporting our previous statistical analysis that MRI values of ICSI and ET groups are not significantly different from NAT. Conclusions The results showed that there was no significant difference in brain development patterns between different modes of conception, which proved that ART does not affect the development of brain myelin in fetuses and infants.

Association between flashbacks and structural brain abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 525-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.C.W. Kroes ◽  
M.G. Whalley ◽  
M.D. Rugg ◽  
C.R. Brewin
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Visual Stream ◽  
Brain Volumes ◽  
Symptom Level ◽  
Mri Scans

AbstractObjectivePosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is reliably associated with reduced brain volume relative to healthy controls, in areas similar to those found in depression. We investigated whether in a PTSD sample brain volumes in these areas were related to reporting specific symptoms of PTSD or to overall symptom severity.MethodStructural MRI scans were obtained from 28 participants diagnosed with PTSD according to DSM-IV-TR. Participants reported the extent of individual PTSD symptoms using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale. Voxel-based morphometry applying the Dartel algorithm implemented within SPM5 was used to identify volumetric changes, related to PTSD total, symptom cluster, and individual symptom scores.ResultsBrain volume was unrelated to overall PTSD severity, but greater reexperiencing scores predicted reduced volumes in the middle temporal and inferior occipital cortices. Increased reports of flashbacks predicted reduced volume in the insula/parietal operculum and in the inferior temporal gyrus.ConclusionThe data illustrate the value of analyses at the symptom level within a patient population to supplement group comparisons of patients and healthy controls. Areas identified were consistent with a neurobiological account of flashbacks implicating specific abnormalities in the ventral visual stream.

scholarly journals Pubertal hormones and brain structure: Exploring the value of hair assays

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandita Vijayakumar ◽  
Elizabeth Shirtcliff ◽  
Michelle L Byrne ◽  
Kathryn L. Mills ◽  
Theresa W Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Pubertal Stage ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Hair Samples ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Hormonal Exposure

Neuroimaging research has highlighted the role of puberty in structural brain development in humans, but studies investigating the mechanistic role of hormones in this association have produced inconsistent findings. Limitations of current approaches to hormonal assessments have long been recognized, as basal hormone levels are susceptible to momentary influences (in particular, circadian rhythmicity and menstrual cyclicity). However, emerging research suggests that a novel method of assaying pubertal hormone concentrations in hair may overcome some of these issues by capturing hormonal exposure across a longer period of time. This study is the first to compare associations between hormone concentrations measured via hair and saliva with brain structure in a sample of early adolescent females (N = 112, 10-13 years of age). Estradiol, testosterone, and DHEA concentrations were assayed from i) 5cm hair samples collected proximal to the scalp, reflecting approximately 5 months of hormonal exposure, and ii) repeated weekly saliva samples collected over the course of one month. Participants also underwent structural MRI scans, and estimates of cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained. Findings revealed that pubertal hormones in saliva samples exhibited strongest associations with parieto-occipital cortices. Comparatively, hair hormone concentrations exhibited stronger negative associations with cingulate and lateral prefrontal cortical thickness, which may reflect unique developmental processes that occur across longer periods of hormonal exposure. However, controlling for pubertal stage removed much of the cortical associations with hormones in saliva, and resulted in minimal change in cortical associations with hormones in hair. Thus hormone concentrations in hair may reflect biological processes not captured by self-reported pubertal stage that influence brain development. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of these potentially unique neurodevelopmental processes captured by saliva and hair hormone concentrations.

scholarly journals A Novel Marker Based Method to Teeth Alignment in MRI

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Luukinen ◽  
Daniel Aalto ◽  
Jarmo Malinen ◽  
Naoko Niikuni ◽  
Jani Saunavaara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Dental Models ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
Dental Cast

AbstractMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can precisely capture the anatomy of the vocal tract. However, the crowns of teeth are not visible in standard MRI scans. In this study, a marker-based teeth alignment method is presented and evaluated. Ten patients undergoing orthognathic surgery were enrolled. Supraglottal airways were imaged preoperatively using structural MRI. MRI visible markers were developed, and they were attached to maxillary teeth and corresponding locations on the dental casts. Repeated measurements of intermarker distances in MRI and in a replica model was compared using linear regression analysis. Dental cast MRI and corresponding caliper measurements did not differ significantly. In contrast, the marker locationsin vivodiffered somewhat from the dental cast measurements likely due to marker placement inaccuracies. The markers were clearly visible in MRI and allowed for dental models to be aligned to head and neck MRI scans.

scholarly journals In vivo high-resolution structural MRI-based atlas of human thalamic nuclei

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manojkumar Saranathan ◽  
Charles Iglehart ◽  
Martin Monti ◽  
Thomas Tourdias ◽  
Brian Rutt
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Essential Tremor ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Conventional Mri ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Using Data

AbstractThalamic nuclei play critical roles in regulation of neurological functions like sleep and wakefulness. They are increasingly implicated in neurodegenerative and neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and essential tremor. However, segmentation of thalamic nuclei is difficult due to their poor visibility in conventional MRI scans. Sophisticated methods have been proposed which require specialized MRI acquisitions and complex post processing. There are few high spatial resolution (1 mm3 or higher) in vivo MRI thalamic atlases available currently. The goal of this work is the development of an in vivo MRI-based structural thalamic atlas at 0.7 × 0.7 × 0.5 mm resolution based on manual segmentation of 9 healthy subjects using the Morel atlas as a guide. Using data analysis from healthy subjects as well as patients with multiple-sclerosis and essential tremor and at 3T and 7T MRI, we demonstrate the utility of this atlas to provide fast and accurate segmentation of thalamic nuclei when only conventional T1 weighted images are available.

In vivo estimation of normal amygdala volume from structural MRI scans with anatomical-based segmentation

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achilleas Siozopoulos ◽  
Vasilios Thomaidis ◽  
Panos Prassopoulos ◽  
Aliki Fiska
Keyword(s):  
Structural Mri ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Amygdala Volume

scholarly journals In vivo structural MRI-based atlas of human thalamic nuclei

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manojkumar Saranathan ◽  
Charles Iglehart ◽  
Martin Monti ◽  
Thomas Tourdias ◽  
Brian K Rutt
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Essential Tremor ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Conventional Mri ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Using Data

Thalamic nuclei play critical roles in regulation of neurological functions like sleep and wakefulness. They are increasingly implicated in neurodegenerative and neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and essential tremor. However, segmentation of thalamic nuclei is difficult due to their poor visibility in conventional MRI scans. Sophisticated methods have been proposed which require specialized MRI acquisitions and complex post processing. There are very few digital MRI thalamic atlases and they have been constructed using a small number of post-mortem brains. The goal of this work is the development of a structural thalamic atlas at high spatial resolution based on manual segmentation of 20 subjects that include healthy subjects and patients with multiple-sclerosis. Using data analysis from healthy subjects as well as patients with multiple-sclerosis and essential tremor and at 3T and 7T MRI, we demonstrate the utility of this atlas to provide fast and accurate segmentation of thalamic nuclei when only conventional T1 weighted images are available.

Intra-observer, inter-observer and inter-scanner variations in brain MRI volume measurements in multiple sclerosis

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Gasperini ◽  
M Rovaris ◽  
M P Sormani ◽  
S Bastianello ◽  
C Pozzilli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Brain Mri ◽  
Observer Variation ◽  
Observer Variability ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery ◽  
Volume Measurements ◽  
The Mean

Introduction: Measurement of brain volume on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans is regarded as an objective marker of multiple sclerosis (MS) severity with the potential to monitor treatment efficacy accurately. This study was performed to assess the variability of brain MRI volume measurements. Patients and methods: We studied nine patients with relapsing-remitting MS, who were imaged on two occasions (separated by an interval of 24 h) using two different MR scanners and fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (fast-FLAIR) sequences. The whole brain volume computed from each image was measured three times by three observers using a seed-growing technique based on signal intensity thresholding. Intra-observer, inter-observer and inter-scanner variabilities were expressed as coefficients of variations (COVs). The inter-scanner variability included not only the intra-observer variation but also the repositioning variability and the variation in observed brain volume caused by different scanner hardware and sequence implementations. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in patients' brain volume values between observers (P=0.82) or between scanners (P=0.30). The mean intra-observer COV was 1.2% (s.e.=0.4%), the mean inter-observer COV was 1.8% (s.e.=0.8%) and the mean inter-scanner COV was 2.4% (s.e.=1.2%). The intra-observer variance was not statistically different from those found between observers (P=0.83) or scanners (P=0.44). Conclusion: The intra-observer variability in brain volume measurements found in this study was within the range of intra-observer variability found in previous studies. This study shows that the use of different observers and MR scanners has only a small influence on the measured brain volume and does not affect the reproducibility of this measurement greatly.

Subcortical Structures in Suicide Attempters with Bipolar Disorder, Type I

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S77-S77
Author(s):  
G. Sani ◽  
A. Simonetti ◽  
E. Ambrosi ◽  
D. Janiri ◽  
G. Kotzalidis
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Type I ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Structural Morphology ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mri Scans

IntroductionSuicidality is a major health concern with as yet unclear neurobiology.ObjectivesTo identify emotional correlates of suicidality in bipolar disorder I (BD-I).AimsTo detect subcortical structural morphology changes associated with suicide attempts.MethodsWe enrolled 30 patients with BD-I of which 15 had history of suicide attempts, and 15 healthy controls (HCs) with no such history. Groups were defined according to suicide attempt history and psychopathology. Subcortical gray matter volumes were obtained from 3 T structural MRI scans using FreeSurfer. Intergroup differences were investigated through ANOVAs followed by post hoc Fischer's least significant difference.ResultsHCs had larger left hippocampal and left accumbens volumes than both BD-I attempters and nonattempters. BD-I attempters had smaller left hippocampi and larger left amygdala than both nonattempters and HCs.ConclusionsDifferences were observed in emotional processing mediating neural circuitries, with BD-I attempters showing opposite patterns to nonattempters between amygdala and hippocampus.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Decreased brain volumes in infants with prenatal opioid exposure

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Dietrich ◽  
Zoe Guckien ◽  
MaKayla Picklesimer ◽  
Christina Sparks ◽  
David Haas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gestational Age ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Total Brain Volume ◽  
Brain Volumes ◽  
Cerebellar Volume ◽  
Total Brain ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mri Scans ◽  
The Brain

Background/Objective: Previous small studies have shown that prenatal opioid-exposed (POE) infants and older children display decreased cerebral, cerebellar, or subcortical brain volumes. However, these studies are plagued by suboptimal reference standards or were unable to correct for the influence of other environmental factors in older children. Therefore, our goal was to study differences in brain volume of POE infants when compared to a geographically matched population. We hypothesized that there will be a significant decrease in total brain volume of the POE infants in comparison to the non-opioid exposed control infants, including a reduction in the cerebellar volume.    Methods: This was an IRB approved prospective study of mothers and infants with POE and controls without POE. All recruited infants underwent MRI scans of the brain before they reached a corrected age of 2 months. The T1-weighted MRI images were analyzed by Infant FreeSurfer and segmented into ROIs. The segmentations were manually checked and edited. An ANOVA analysis was performed to compare the cerebellar and total brain volume datasets. We corrected for gender, corrected gestational age at MRI scan, and total brain volume where necessary.     Results: 42 infants were included in the study, 21 with POE and 21 control infants. There was a significant difference in the mean gestational age of POE infants (38.28±2.13) compared to control infants (39.42±0.72). On quantitative analysis, the POE group had a significantly reduced total brain and supratentorial volume in comparison to the controls. The cerebellar volume was also significantly smaller in POE, but this significance did not persist when the total brain volume was included in the model.     Conclusion: The supratentorial region is affected disproportionately more than the cerebellum in POE. Specific reductions in cortical, subcortical, and white matter volume need to be further investigated and their influence on developmental outcomes need to be studied. 

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