scholarly journals The Influence of MTHFR Polymorphism on Gray Matter Volume in Patients With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengzhe You ◽  
Xia Zhou ◽  
Wenwen Yin ◽  
Ke Wan ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
...  

The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) represents a prodromal stage of dementia and involves a high risk of progression into AD. Although the effects of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene on structural alterations in aMCI have been widely investigated, the effects of MTHFR C677T and interaction effects of MTHFR × APOE genotypes on gray matter atrophy in aMCI remain largely unknown. In the present study, 60 aMCI patients and 30 healthy controls were enrolled, and voxel-based morphometry analysis was performed to inspect the effects of diagnosis, different genotypes, and their interactions on gray matter atrophy. The results showed that aMCI patients had significant gray matter atrophy involving the bilateral hippocampus, the right parahippocampal gyrus, and the left superior temporal gyrus compared with healthy controls. Besides, a substantial reduction in gray matter volume was observed in the right hippocampus region in APOE ε4 carriers from the aMCI group, compared with APOE ε4 non-carriers. A significant interaction was found between diagnosis and MTHFR C677T genotype on the right precuneus in healthy controls and aMCI patients not carrying APOE ε4 allele. Our findings may provide new evidence substantiating the genetic effects of MTHFR C677T on brain structural alternation in patients with aMCI.

2016 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Derya Durusu Emek-Sava ◽  
Berrin Çavuşoğlu ◽  
Duygu Hünerli ◽  
Deniz Yerlikaya ◽  
Arife Gökçeoğlu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhukar Dwivedi ◽  
Neha Dubey ◽  
Aditya Jain Pansari ◽  
Raju Surampudi Bapi ◽  
Meghoranjani Das ◽  
...  

Previous cross-sectional studies reported positive effects of meditation on the brain areas related to attention and executive function in the healthy elderly population. Effects of long-term regular meditation in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease dementia (AD) have rarely been studied. In this study, we explored changes in cortical thickness and gray matter volume in meditation-naïve persons with MCI or mild AD after long-term meditation intervention. MCI or mild AD patients underwent detailed clinical and neuropsychological assessment and were assigned into meditation or non-meditation groups. High resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired at baseline and after 6 months. Longitudinal symmetrized percentage changes (SPC) in cortical thickness and gray matter volume were estimated. Left caudal middle frontal, left rostral middle frontal, left superior parietal, right lateral orbitofrontal, and right superior frontal cortices showed changes in both cortical thickness and gray matter volume; the left paracentral cortex showed changes in cortical thickness; the left lateral occipital, left superior frontal, left banks of the superior temporal sulcus (bankssts), and left medial orbitofrontal cortices showed changes in gray matter volume. All these areas exhibited significantly higher SPC values in meditators as compared to non-meditators. Conversely, the left lateral occipital, and right posterior cingulate cortices showed significantly lower SPC values for cortical thickness in the meditators. In hippocampal subfields analysis, we observed significantly higher SPC in gray matter volume of the left CA1, molecular layer HP, and CA3 with a trend for increased gray matter volume in most other areas. No significant changes were found for the hippocampal subfields in the right hemisphere. Analysis of the subcortical structures revealed significantly increased volume in the right thalamus in the meditation group. The results of the study point out that long-term meditation practice in persons with MCI or mild AD leads to salutary changes in cortical thickness and gray matter volumes. Most of these changes were observed in the brain areas related to executive control and memory that are prominently at risk in neurodegenerative diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Jáni ◽  
Zora Kikinis ◽  
Jan Lošák ◽  
Ofer Pasternak ◽  
Filip Szczepankiewicz ◽  
...  

Objectives: We assessed the relationship between emotional awareness (e.g., the ability to identify and differentiate our own feelings and feelings of others) and regional brain volumes in healthy and in schizophrenia groups.Methods: Magnetic resonance images of 29 subjects with schizophrenia and 33 matched healthy controls were acquired. Brain gray matter was parcellated using FreeSurfer and 28 regions of interest associated with emotional awareness were analyzed. All participants were assessed using the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) of Self and of Other. LEAS scores were correlated with gray matter volume for each hemisphere on the 14 brain regions of the emotional awareness network.Results: Individuals with schizophrenia showed decreased emotional awareness on both LEAS Self and LEAS Other compared to healthy controls. There were no statistically significant between-group differences in gray matter volumes of the emotional awareness network. The performance on LEAS Other correlated negatively with right precuneus gray matter volume only in the schizophrenia group.Conclusion: Our findings suggest a relationship between gray matter volume of the right precuneus and deficits in understanding of emotional states of others in schizophrenia.


Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (20) ◽  
pp. e1902-e1908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Almairac ◽  
Hugues Duffau ◽  
Guillaume Herbet

ObjectiveTo assess the homotopic structural plasticity in case of unilateral damage of the insula.MethodsTo detect changes in gray matter volumes of the contralesional insula from structural MRIs, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in a sample of 84 patients with a diffuse low-grade glioma invading the left insula (insL group; n = 47) or the right insula (insR group; n = 37).ResultsThe region of interest–based VBM analysis highlighted a large cluster of voxels with gray matter volume increase in the contralesional insula in both patient groups (k = 2,214 voxels for insL and k = 879 voxels for insR, p < 0.05, family-wise error corrected) compared with 24 age-matched healthy controls. Gray matter volume was increased for the entire insula (t69 = 3.63, p = 0.0016 for insL; t59 = 3.54, p = 0.0024 for insR, Bonferroni corrected), whereas no significant changes were found in 2 control regions for both patient groups. Furthermore, an increase of 24.6% and 31.6% in the gray matter volume was observed in the insula-related VBM cluster for insL and insR patients, respectively, compared with healthy controls (t69 = 7.39, p = 2.59 × 10−10 and t59 = 7.51, p = 3.61 × 10−10).ConclusionsThe reported results demonstrate that slow-growing but massive lesion infiltration of the insula induces marked increase of gray matter volume in the contralateral one. Our findings give support for a homotopic reorganization that might be a physiologic basis for the high level of functional compensation observed in patients with glioma.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Zan Wang ◽  
Zhengsheng Zhang ◽  
Chunming Xie ◽  
Hao Shu ◽  
Duan Liu ◽  
...  

Based on whole-brain gray matter volume (GMV), we used relevance vector regression to predict the Rey’s Auditory Verbal Learning Test Delayed Recall (AVLT-DR) scores of individual amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patient. The whole-brain GMV pattern could significantly predict the AVLT-DR scores (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). The most important GMV features mainly involved default-mode (e.g., posterior cingulate gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus) and limbic systems (e.g., hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus). Therefore, our results provide evidence supporting the idea that the episodic memory deficit in aMCI patients is associated with disruption of the default-mode and limbic systems.


2019 ◽  
pp. 135910531986997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huazhan Yin ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Dan Li ◽  
Lu Xiao ◽  
Mei Cheng

This study investigated the neuroanatomical basis of the association between depression/anxiety and sleep quality among 370 college students. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between sleep quality and depression/anxiety. Moreover, mediation results showed that the gray matter volume of the right insula mediated the relationship between depression/anxiety and sleep quality, which suggested that depression/anxiety may affect sleep quality through the right insula volume. These findings confirmed a strong link between sleep quality and depression/anxiety, while highlighting the volumetric variation in the right insula associated with emotional processing, which may play a critical role in improving sleep quality.


Neurology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012869
Author(s):  
Raffaello Bonacchi ◽  
Alessandro Meani ◽  
Elisabetta Pagani ◽  
Olga Marchesi ◽  
Andrea Falini ◽  
...  

Objective:To investigate whether age at onset influences brain gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter (WM) microstructural abnormalities in adult multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, given its influence on clinical phenotype and disease course.Method:In this hypothesis-driven cross-sectional study, we enrolled 67 pediatric-onset MS (POMS) patients and 143 sex- and disease duration (DD)-matched randomly-selected adult-onset MS (AOMS) patients, together with 208 healthy controls. All subjects underwent neurological evaluation and 3T MRI acquisition. MRI variables were standardized based on healthy controls, to remove effects of age and sex. Associations with DD in POMS and AOMS patients were studied with linear models. Time to reach clinical and MRI milestones was assessed with product-limit approach.Results:At DD=1 year, GMV and WM fractional anisotropy (FA) were abnormal in AOMS but not in POMS patients. Significant interaction of age at onset (POMS vs AOMS) into the association with DD was found for GMV and WM FA. The crossing point of regression lines in POMS and AOMS patients was at 20 years of DD for GMV and 14 for WM FA. For POMS and AOMS patients, median DD was 29 and 19 years to reach Expanded Disability Status Scale=3 (p<0.001), 31 and 26 years to reach abnormal Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task-3 (p=0.01), 24 and 18 years to reach abnormal GMV (p=0.04), and 19 and 17 years to reach abnormal WM FA (p=0.36).Conclusions:Younger patients are initially resilient to MS-related damage. Then, compensatory mechanisms start failing with loss of WM integrity, followed by GM atrophy and finally disability.


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