Mummery C J, Patterson K, Price C J, Ashburner J, Frackowiak R S, Hodges J R
Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, London, UK.
Ann Neurol. 2000 Jan;47(1):36-45.
The cortical anatomy of 6 patients with semantic dementia (the temporal lobe variant of frontotemporal dementia) was contrasted with that of a group of age-matched normal subjects by using voxel-based morphometry, a technique that identifies changes in gray matter volume on a voxel-by-voxel basis. Among the circumscribed regions of neuronal loss, the left temporal pole (Brodmann area 38) was the most significantly and consistently affected region. Cortical atrophy in the left hemisphere also involved the inferolateral temporal lobe (Brodmann area 20/21) and fusiform gyrus. In addition, the right temporal pole (Brodmann area 38), the ventromedial frontal cortex (Brodmann area 11/32) bilaterally, and the amygdaloid complex were affected, but no significant atrophy was measured in the hippocampus, entorhinal, or caudal perirhinal cortex. The degree of semantic memory impairment across the 6 cases correlated significantly with the extent of atrophy of the left anterior temporal lobe but not with atrophy in the adjacent ventromedial frontal cortex. These results confirm that the anterior temporal lobe is critically involved in semantic processing, and dissociate its function from that of the adjacent frontal region.
运用基于体素的形态测量法，将6例语义性痴呆（额颞叶痴呆的颞叶变异型）患者的皮质解剖结构与一组年龄匹配的正常受试者进行对比。该技术可逐体素识别灰质体积的变化。在局限性神经元缺失区域中，左侧颞极（布罗德曼区38）是受影响最显著且最持续的区域。左侧半球的皮质萎缩还累及颞叶下外侧（布罗德曼区20/21）和梭状回。此外，右侧颞极（布罗德曼区38）、双侧腹内侧前额叶皮质（布罗德曼区11/32）以及杏仁复合体均受到影响，但在海马体、内嗅皮质或尾侧嗅周皮质未检测到明显萎缩。6例患者的语义记忆损害程度与左侧颞叶前部萎缩程度显著相关，而与相邻腹内侧前额叶皮质的萎缩无关。这些结果证实，颞叶前部在语义处理中起关键作用，并将其功能与相邻额叶区域的功能区分开来。
