rss
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;73:508-516 doi:10.1136/jnnp.73.5.508
  • Paper

Relation between medial temporal atrophy and functional brain activity during memory processing in Alzheimer’s disease: a combined MRI and SPECT study

  1. G E J Garrido1,
  2. S S Furuie1,
  3. C A Buchpiguel2,
  4. C M C Bottino3,
  5. O P Almeida4,
  6. C G Cid3,
  7. C H P Camargo3,
  8. C C Castro2,
  9. M F Glabus5,
  10. G F Busatto3
  1. 1Division of Informatics, Heart Institute (InCor), University of São Paulo Medical School, Brazil
  2. 2Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo
  3. 3Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo
  4. 4Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, University of Western Australia, Australia
  5. 5Unit of Integrative Neuroimaging, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, National Institutes of Health, USA
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr G E J Garrido, Centro de Medicina Nuclear-USP, Rua Dr Ovidio Pires de Campos s/n, 05403-010, São Paulo-SP, Brazil;
 neuroimage{at}hcnet.usp.br
  • Received 4 January 2002
  • Accepted 3 July 2002
  • Revised 18 June 2002

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relation between atrophy of the hippocampal region and brain functional patterns during episodic memory processing in Alzheimer’s disease.

Patients and methods: Whole brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) measures of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were obtained during a verbal recognition memory task in nine subjects with mild Alzheimer’s disease and 10 elderly healthy controls. Using the statistical parametric mapping approach, voxel based comparisons were made on the MRI data to identify clusters of significantly reduced grey matter concentrations in the hippocampal region in the Alzheimer patients relative to the controls. The mean grey matter density in the voxel cluster of greatest hippocampal atrophy was extracted for each Alzheimer subject. This measure was used to investigate, on a voxel by voxel basis, the presence of significant correlations between the degree of hippocampal atrophy and the rCBF SPECT measures obtained during the memory task.

Results: Direct correlations were detected between the hippocampal grey matter density and rCBF values in voxel clusters located bilaterally in the temporal neocortex, in the left medial temporal region, and in the left posterior cingulate cortex during the memory task in the Alzheimer’s disease group (p < 0.001). Conversely, measures of hippocampal atrophy were negatively correlated with rCBF values in voxel clusters located in the frontal lobes, involving the right and left inferior frontal gyri and the insula (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Hippocampal atrophic changes in Alzheimer’s disease are associated with reduced functional activity in limbic and associative temporal regions during episodic memory processing, but with increased activity in frontal areas, possibly on a compensatory basis.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: none declared.

  • See editorial commentary, this issue pages 470–1.

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.

BMJ Careers - Latest neurology and neurosurgery jobs