Department of Clinical Physiopathology, University of Florence, Italy.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2010 Nov;31(10):1807-12. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A2225. Epub 2010 Sep 2.
GM is typically affected in HD since the presymptomatic stage. Our aim was to investigate with MT MR imaging the microstructural changes of the residual brain subcortical and cortical GM in carriers of the HD gene and to preliminarily assess their correlation with the clinical features.
Fifteen HD gene carriers with a range of clinical severity and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent MT MR imaging on a 1.5T scanner. The MT ratio was measured automatically in several subcortical and cortical GM regions (striatal nuclei; thalami; and the neocortex of the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes) by using FLS tools.
The MT ratio was significantly (P < .05 with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparison) decreased in all subcortical structures except the putamen and decreased diffusely in the cerebral cortex of HD carriers compared with controls. Close correlation was observed between the subcortical and cortical regional MT ratios and several clinical variables, including disease duration, motor disability, and scores in timed neuropsychological tests.
MT imaging demonstrates degeneration of the subcortical and cortical GM in HD carriers and might serve, along with volumetric assessment, as a surrogate marker in future clinical trials of HD.
GM 通常在 HD 的无症状期就受到影响。我们的目的是通过 MT MR 成像研究 HD 基因携带者残余脑皮质下和皮质 GM 的微观结构变化，并初步评估其与临床特征的相关性。
15 名 HD 基因携带者，临床严重程度不等，15 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者在 1.5T 扫描仪上接受 MT MR 成像。使用 FLS 工具自动测量几个皮质下和皮质 GM 区域（纹状体核；丘脑；额叶、颞叶、顶叶和枕叶的新皮质）的 MT 比。
除了壳核之外，所有皮质下结构的 MT 比均显著降低（P<0.05，经 Bonferroni 校正多重比较），与对照组相比，HD 携带者的大脑皮质弥漫性降低。亚皮质和皮质区域的 MT 比与几个临床变量密切相关，包括疾病持续时间、运动障碍和计时神经心理学测试的分数。
MT 成像显示 HD 携带者的皮质下和皮质 GM 退化，可能与容积评估一起，作为未来 HD 临床试验中的替代标志物。
