Moody Dixon M, Thore Clara R, Anstrom John A, Challa Venkata R, Langefeld Carl D, Brown William R
Department of Radiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
Radiology. 2004 Dec;233(3):883-90. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2333020981.
To investigate vessel density changes with increasing age in three areas of the brain and to correlate these changes with leukoaraiosis (LA) on the basis of magnetic resonance (MR) images and location in deep white matter (WM).
Internal review board approval or informed consent from next of kin was not required. Brains of 21 subjects (mean age, 72.5 years; 12 men, nine women) were evaluated at autopsy with MR imaging. The presence of LA was indicated by confluent or patchy areas of hyperintensity in deep WM. Microvascular density (percentage of vessel area divided by total area) in subjects with LA was measured with computerized morphometric analysis in LA lesions, healthy-appearing WM at MR imaging, and the cortex. These measurements were compared with each other and with measurements from corresponding areas in healthy subjects. Afferent vasculature was stained with alkaline phosphatase in celloidin sections. Hypotheses were tested with computation of a series of repeated-measures linear mixed models.
Autopsy brains from 12 subjects with LA (mean age, 72 years; six men, six women) and nine subjects without LA (mean age, 73 years; six men, three women) were studied. Afferent microvascular density +/- standard deviation in LA lesions in deep WM (2.56% +/- 1.56) was significantly lower than that in corresponding deep WM of healthy subjects (3.20% +/- 1.82) (P = .018). Subjects with LA demonstrated decreased afferent vascular density at early ages in all three areas of the brain when compared with healthy subjects of the same age.
Findings of decreased afferent vascular density in the area of LA and outside the lesion indicate that LA is a generalized cerebrovascular disease process rather than one confined to deep WM.
基于磁共振（MR）图像及深部白质（WM）中的位置，研究大脑三个区域血管密度随年龄增长的变化情况，并将这些变化与脑白质疏松症（LA）相关联。
无需内部审查委员会批准或近亲的知情同意。对21名受试者（平均年龄72.5岁；12名男性，9名女性）的大脑进行尸检MR成像评估。深部WM中融合或斑片状高信号区域提示LA的存在。采用计算机形态计量分析测量LA患者LA病灶、MR成像上看似健康的WM以及皮质中的微血管密度（血管面积占总面积的百分比）。将这些测量值相互比较，并与健康受试者相应区域的测量值进行比较。在火棉胶切片中用碱性磷酸酶对传入血管系统进行染色。通过计算一系列重复测量线性混合模型来检验假设。
研究了12名患有LA的受试者（平均年龄72岁；6名男性，6名女性）和9名未患LA的受试者（平均年龄73岁；6名男性，3名女性）的尸检大脑。深部WM中LA病灶的传入微血管密度±标准差（2.56%±1.56）显著低于健康受试者相应深部WM中的密度（3.20%±1.82）（P = 0.018）。与同年龄的健康受试者相比，患有LA的受试者在大脑所有三个区域的早期传入血管密度均降低。
LA区域及病灶外传入血管密度降低的结果表明，LA是一种全身性脑血管疾病过程，而非仅限于深部WM的疾病。
