Centre for Quantum Computation and Intelligent System, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31083. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031083. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by an insidious onset of progressive cerebral atrophy and cognitive decline. Previous research suggests that cortical folding and sulcal width are associated with cognitive function in elderly individuals, and the aim of the present study was to investigate these morphological measures in patients with AD. The sample contained 161 participants, comprising 80 normal controls, 57 patients with very mild AD, and 24 patients with mild AD. From 3D T1-weighted brain scans, automated methods were used to calculate an index of global cortex gyrification and the width of five individual sulci: superior frontal, intra-parietal, superior temporal, central, and Sylvian fissure. We found that global cortex gyrification decreased with increasing severity of AD, and that the width of all individual sulci investigated other than the intra-parietal sulcus was greater in patients with mild AD than in controls. We also found that cognitive functioning, as assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, decreased as global cortex gyrification decreased. MMSE scores also decreased in association with a widening of all individual sulci investigated other than the intra-parietal sulcus. The results suggest that abnormalities of global cortex gyrification and regional sulcal span are characteristic of patients with even very mild AD, and could thus facilitate the early diagnosis of this condition.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）的特点是隐匿性进展性脑萎缩和认知功能下降。先前的研究表明，皮质折叠和脑沟宽度与老年人的认知功能有关，本研究旨在探讨 AD 患者的这些形态学测量值。样本包含 161 名参与者，包括 80 名正常对照、57 名非常轻度 AD 患者和 24 名轻度 AD 患者。从 3D T1 加权脑扫描中，使用自动方法计算了全局皮质脑回指数和五个单独脑沟（额上沟、顶内沟、颞上沟、中央沟和大脑外侧裂）的宽度。我们发现，全局皮质脑回指数随着 AD 严重程度的增加而降低，除顶内沟外，所有研究的单独脑沟的宽度在轻度 AD 患者中均大于对照组。我们还发现，认知功能，如迷你精神状态检查（MMSE）评分所示，随着全局皮质脑回指数的降低而降低。MMSE 评分也随着除顶内沟外所有研究的单独脑沟的增宽而降低。结果表明，全局皮质脑回指数和区域脑沟宽度的异常是即使是非常轻度 AD 患者的特征，因此可以促进这种疾病的早期诊断。
