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Do cognitive patterns of brain magnetic activity correlate with hippocampal atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease?
  1. F Maestú1,
  2. J Arrazola2,
  3. A Fernández1,
  4. P G Simos3,
  5. C Amo1,
  6. P Gil-Gregorio4,
  7. S Fernandez1,
  8. A Papanicolaou3,
  9. T Ortiz1
  1. 1Centro de Magnetoencefalografía Dr Pérez Modrego, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain
  2. 2Department of Neuroradiology, Hospital Universitario San Carlos, Madrid
  3. 3Department of Neurosurgery, Vivian L Smith Center for Neurologic Research, University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas, USA
  4. 4Departamento de Geriatría, Hospital Universitario San Carlos, Madrid
  1. Correspondence to:
    Dr Tomas Ortiz, Centro de Magnetoencefalografía Dr Pérez Modrego, Pabellón No 8 Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid 28040, Madrid, Spain;
    cmeg{at}eucmos.sim.ucm.es

Abstract

Background: Many reports support the clinical validity of volumetric MRI measurements in Alzheimer’s disease.

Objective: To integrate functional brain imaging data derived from magnetoencephalography (MEG) and volumetric data in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in age matched controls.

Methods: MEG data were obtained in the context of a probe-letter memory task. Volumetric measurements were obtained for lateral and mesial temporal lobe regions.

Results: As expected, Alzheimer’s disease patients showed greater hippocampal atrophy than controls bilaterally. MEG derived indices of the degree of activation in left parietal and temporal lobe areas, occurring after 400 ms from stimulus onset, correlated significantly with the relative volume of lateral and mesial temporal regions. In addition, the size of the right hippocampus accounted for a significant portion of the variance in cognitive scores independently of brain activity measures.

Conclusions: These data support the view that there is a relation between hippocampal atrophy and the degree of neurophysiological activity in the left temporal lobe.

  • magnetoencephalography
  • functional brain imaging
  • dementia
  • MRI volumetry
  • CAMCOG, Cambridge cognitive examination
  • CVr, relative cerebral volume
  • ECD, equivalent current dipole
  • ERF, event related magnetic flux
  • FA, flip angle
  • FAST, functional assessment scale
  • LHV, left hippocampal volume
  • LHVr, proportion of the total cranial volume represented by the left hippocampus
  • LTLS, left lateral surface of the temporal lobe
  • LTLSr, proportion of the total cranial volume represented by the left temporal lobe
  • MEG, magnetoencephalography
  • MMSE, mini-mental state examination
  • NINCDS-ADRDA, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke—Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association
  • RHV, right left hippocampal volume
  • RHVr, proportion of the total cranial volume represented by the right hippocampus
  • RTLS, right lateral surface of the temporal lobe
  • RTLSr, proportion of the total cranial volume represented by the right temporal lobe
  • TCrV, total cranial volume
  • TCV, total cerebral volume
  • TE, time of excitation
  • TR, time of repetition

https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.74.2.208

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