Mild Cognitive Impairment is Associated With White Matter Integrity Changes in Late-Myelinating Regions Within the Corpus Callosum

This study tested whether evidence of reverse myelination was observed in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using a data-driven analytic approach based on life span developmental data. Whole-brain high-resolution diffusion tensor imaging scans were obtained for 31 patients with MCI and 79 demographically matched healthy older adults. Comparisons across corpus callosum (CC) regions of interest (ROIs) showed decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the body but not in the genu or splenium; early-, middle-, and late-myelinating ROIs restricted to the CC revealed decreased FA in late- but not early- or middle-myelinating ROIs. Voxelwise group differences revealed areas of lower FA in MCI, but whole-brain differences were equally distributed across early-, middle-, and late-myelinating regions. Overall, results within the CC support the retrogenesis model, although caution is needed when generalizing these results beyond the CC.

Source: American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias - January 13, 2016 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Stricker, N. H., Salat, D. H., Kuhn, T. P., Foley, J. M., Price, J. S., Westlye, L. T., Esterman, M. S., McGlinchey, R. E., Milberg, W. P., Leritz, E. C. Tags: Current Topics in Research Source Type: research