Junjie Wu¹, Syed S. Shahid^2,3, Qixiang Lin², Antoine Hone-Blanchet², Jeremy L. Smith¹, Benjamin B. Risk⁴, Aditya S. Bisht², David W. Loring², Felicia C. Goldstein², Allan I. Levey², Bruce A. Crosson^2,5, James J. Lah², and Deqiang Qiu^1,6
1Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States, ²Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States, ³Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States, ⁴Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, United States, ⁵Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Decatur, GA, United States, ⁶Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States

Using structural, resting-state functional and diffusion MRI, we report that normal aging affects functional connectivity and tissue microstructure in all hippocampal subfields, while the subiculum and CA1-3 exhibit the greatest sensitivity to asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease pathology with CA1-3 hyperconnectivity. The imaging measures correlate with neuropsychological performance and CSF tau.

Maurizio Bergamino¹, Ryan R Walsh², and Ashley M Stokes^1
1Neuroimaging Research, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, United States, ²Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, United States

The objective of this study was to analyze the differences in structural connectivity and white matter (WM) microstructural integrity between healthy subjects and a cohort of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). For this purpose, we used a novel approach incorporating multi-shell diffusion MRI data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database.

Tharathorn Kaeowirun¹, Chanon Ngamsombat¹, Doonyaporn Wongsawaeng ¹, Siriwan Piyapittayanan¹, Yudthaphon Vichianin², Weerasak Muangpaisan³, Panida Charnchaowanish¹, and Orasa Chawalparit^1
1Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, ²Department of Radiological Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, ³Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

      A simple screening tool such as MoCA has been used for demonstrating cognitive change even in normal aging process. Brain MRI has been used to demonstrate the etiology of cognitive problem in elderly. Structural changes by both visual assessment and automated methods can be obtained using MR study. We demonstrated the differences of structural parameters including cortical thickness, volume and white matter lesions(nonspecific white matter change) with a clinical MoCA test in normal aging population.

Ilaria Ricchi^1,2,3, Ricardo Corredor-Jerez^1,2,3, Thierry Phénix⁴, Mélanie Leroy⁵, Reto Meuli², Jonas Richiardi², Bénédicte Maréchal^1,2,3, and Jean-François Demonet^4
1Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology, Siemens Healthcare AG, Lausanne, Switzerland, ²Dept. of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, ³LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, ⁴Leenaards Memory Centre CHUV Lausanne University, Lausanne, Switzerland, ⁵Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Lille University, Inserm University Hospital CHU, Lille, France

The Amyloid, Tau, Neurodegeneration (ATN) classification model is defined by the concentration of  biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the positivity of imaging markers using MR or PET imaging. Despite the CSF biomarkers requiring an invasive procedure, they are good predictors for Alzheimer’s Disease. We investigate the contribution of automated brain MR morphometry analysis to discriminate between healthy subjects and dementia patients according to the ATN classification. Hippocampal and temporal gray matter volumes allow a substantial distinction between healthy participants with amyloid negativity and patients with an Alzheimer’s CSF profile in the T category.

Marilena M DeMayo^1,2, Jinglei Lv^1,2, Shantel Duffy^3,4,5, Sharon Naismith^3,4,5,6, and Fernando Calamante^1,2,7
1School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, ²Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, ³Cogsleep, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence, Camperdown, Australia, ⁴Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, ⁵Healthy Brain Ageing Program, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, ⁶School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, ⁷Sydney Imaging, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia

Greater body mass index (BMI) is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for the development of dementia. This study investigated the functional connectivity networks associated with BMI using Network-Based Statistics in a cohort at-risk of developing dementia. Greater BMI was associated with decreased connectivity within 3 networks. Two of these networks showed decreased thalamo-cortical coupling and the third showed reduced connectivity between two nodes in the frontal cortex. This study illustrates the influence of BMI on functional connectivity, and a potential mechanism through which higher BMI confers risk of conversion from an at-risk clinical state to a dementia diagnosis.

Susana Muñoz Maniega¹, Jonathan D Clayden², Maria Valdés Hernandez¹, Mark E Bastin¹, Ian J Deary³, and Joanna M Wardlaw^1
1Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, ²UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ³Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

TractSeg automatically produces fast and accurate tract segmentations in young populations, but its robustness to changes in the brain due to aging has not been tested. We run TractSeg in data from an older cohort (age 82). We visually assessed the tract segmentations and compared diffusion parameters with a method previously tested in older brains (PNT). TractSeg produced reasonable tract segmentations. The agreement with PNT was poor but measurements were highly correlated. Visual assessments and estimated overlap between segmented bundles suggest potential over-segmentation and subsequent loss of specificity of tract diffusion parameters. Optimised training data could improve TractSeg’s results. 

Geon-Ho Jahng¹, Seung-Yeon Cho², Jung-Mi Park², Soonchan Park¹, Chang-Woo Ryu¹, and Richard Edden^3
1Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, ²Stroke and Neurological Disorders Center, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, ³Radiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of herb medicine in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using SVS PRESS MRS, MEGA-PRESS, and pCASL MRI. We randomly allocated a total of 30 MCI patients to an herb medicine or a placebo group and performed MRI scans before and after 24 weeks of treatment. We analyzed NAA/Cr, GABA/Cr, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) using repeated-measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). We found that the CBF measures were the most sensitive markers to evaluate the effect of the herb medicine on MCI.

KowsalyaDevi Pavuluri¹, John Huston III¹, Richard L. Ehman¹, Armando Manduca^1,2, Clifford R. Jack Jr¹, Rodolfo Savica³, Bradley F Boeve⁴, Kejal Kantarci¹, David S Knopman³, Ronald C. Petersen³, and Matthew C. Murphy^1
1Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States, ²Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, United States, ³Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States, ⁴Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Center for Sleep Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia in older people after Alzheimer’s, accounting for 10-15% of all dementia cases. In this study we used Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) to assess the feasibility of using the changes in brain mechanical properties as potential biomarkers.

Di Wang¹, Lu Yu², Pu-Yeh Wu³, Chunmei Li², and Min Chen^2
1Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology; Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, P.R. China, Bejing, China, ²Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology; Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, P.R. China, Beijing, China, ³GE Healthcare, Beijing, China, Beijing, China

Synthetic MRI is a novel method that simultaneously provides quantitative relaxation mapping and synthetic contrast-weighted images. In this study, we adopted this technique to investigate the age-related relaxation characteristics alterations in healthy subjects by brain region-based regression analysis. Specifically, we found significant differences of relaxation characteristics between left and right hemispheres in the frontal and occipital white matter, and the genu and splenium of corpus callosum. T1, T2 and PD showed a quadratic trend with age. Overall, our findings suggested that the relaxation characteristics provided by the synthetic MRI can be considered an effective tool for detecting brain aging. 

fei gao¹, fuxin ren¹, weibo chen², and muwei li^3
1Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Shandong University, jinan, China, ²Philips Healthcare, shanghai, China, ³Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States

Presbycusis (PC) is a gradually progressive bilateral symmetrical sensory-neural hearing loss, characterized by hearing loss at high frequencies. As the most common sensory deficit in older adults, hearing deprivation was proved to be the independent influencing factor of dementia. However, the exact pathophysiological mechanism of PC and its relationship with cognitive impairment is largely unknown. In this study, therefore, we applied an ICA-based resting-state networks (RSNs) analysis to examine changes in functional connectivity of intra- and inter-network in patients with PC. Then, we explore the relationship between these abnormal functional connectivity and cognitive impairments in PC patients.

Adam S Bernstein¹, Steve Z Rapcsak², Michael Hornberger³, and Manojkumar Saranathan^4
1College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, ²Department of Neurology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, ³Department of Medicine, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, ⁴Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States

Using a novel multi-atlas segmentation technique, we studied the atrophy of thalamic nuclei as a function of disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease. We found statistically significant atrophy of the anteroventral, centromedian, and mediodorsal nuclei, which are part of the limbic system and known to play a known role in memory and cognitive function. We also found atrophy of the medial geniculate nucleus and the pulvinar nucleus. The degree of atrophy increases from early MCI to full AD. These findings suggest that a larger network of brain structures are affected in Alzheimer’s disease, which together lead to the clinical presentation.

Mengzhu Wang¹, Yunzhu Wu¹, and Wenjiao Lyu^2
1MR Scientific Marketing, Siemens Healthcare, Guangzhou, China, ²Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China

The aim of this study was to elucidate a multiple diffusion-model-based radiomics model in detecting the changes of hippocampus in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. We used diffusion features derived from DTI, DKI, NODDI and MAP-MRI models and chose LR as the classifier to construct a prediction model. The results showed that the most accurate prediction was achieved by incorporating the NODDI_ICVF and MAP_NG into a nomogram, with AUC and accuracy reached 0.80 and 0.78.

Brittany Intzandt^1,2,3, Safa Sanami⁴, Julia Huck⁴, Richard D Hoge⁵, Louis Bherer^2,3,6,7, and Claudine J Gauthier^3,4,6
1INDI Department, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada, ²Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Geriatrie, Montreal, QC, Canada, ³Centre de Recherche, l'Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada, ⁴Physics Department, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada, ⁵Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, ⁶PERFORM Centre, Concordia Univeristy, Montreal, QC, Canada, ⁷Départment de Médicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

Cortical thinning occurs during aging and has been reported to worsen with increased adiposity, although this relationship seems dependent on sex. Increased cortical thickness is related to greater cardiovascular fitness in aging, but previous work has not explored if fitness moderates these conflicting relationships between overweight and cortical thinning. Here, we investigated if fitness moderates relationships between overweight status and cortical thickness in older women and men. Results revealed overweight women had greater cortical thickness than overweight men, but fitness did not moderate this. Future work should investigate sex hormones to further understand these sex differences in overweight individuals.

Xiaoqing Alice Zhou¹, Grace Ngiam¹, Lei Qian², Tammy Sankorrakul³, Elizabeth J Coulson², and Kai-Hsiang Chuang^4
1QBI/SBMS, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ²SBMS/QBI, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ³SBMS, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ⁴QBI/CAI, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

3xTg mouse model of AD have smaller basal forebrain volume measured by MRI

MRI-detected volume changes do not correlate with cholinergic neurons

Zilin Chen¹, Jianpan Huang¹, Yang Liu¹, Joseph H.C. Lai¹, and Kannie W.Y. Chan^1,2,3
1Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, ²Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China

We have demonstrated that D-glucose kinetics detected by dynamic glucose-enhanced (DGE)-MRI can be used to assess D-glucose uptake and clearance alterations in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mice at 3T. Interleukin (IL)-33 treatment has been shown to promote Aβ clearance. Here, we applied our established DGE-MRI to detect changes of brain clearance after IL-33 treatment in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain parenchyma in AD mice. A significant increased D-glucose clearance from CSF, but not brain parenchyma, was observed after treatment. DGE-MRI provides a non-invasive evaluation of IL-33 treatment in AD, and further affirm its potential to assess brain lymphatic system in AD.

Harish Palnitkar¹, Shreyan Majumdar², Rolf Reiter³, Shujun Lin², Joseph Crutison², Thomas Royston², and Dieter Klatt^2
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, ²Richard and Loan Hill Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, ³Charite Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

In prior investigations, we have established 1-Norm as a quantitative measure of degree of inhomogeneity of excised biological tissues. Here, we apply 1-Norm to study effect of Alzheimer’s disease on mechanical inhomogeneity of brain. MRE was performed on excised brains of 3 control mice & 3 mice with AD(5xFAD). 1-Norm revealed increase in mechanical inhomogeneity of brain tissue due to AD. We speculate this increase in mechanical inhomogeneity of brains with AD may be due to amyloid plaque deposition, synaptic degeneration, neuronal loss & loss of white matter tracts. We aim to establish 1-Norm as a biomarker to detect AD in humans.

Dana Goerzen^1,2, Caitlin Fowler^1,2, Dan Madularu³, Gabriel A Devenyi², M. Mallar Chakravarty^1,2, and Jamie Near^1,2
1McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, ²Centre d'Imagerie Cérébrale, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada, ³Center for Translational Neuroimaging, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States

In order to design effective interventions for age-related diseases, it is necessary to first understand the biological processes associated with healthy aging. In this way, physiological changes during aging can be distinguished from those arising due to pathology. To this end, we present a comprehensive analysis of MRI-derived volumetric brain changes during healthy aging in a mixed-sex cohort of 27 Fischer 344 wildtype rats. These findings contribute to our understanding of the baseline neuroanatomical changes associated with healthy aging in both sexes, critical for the proper identification and management of age-related diseases, which frequently present in sexually dimorphic ways. 

Brenton James Keller¹, Jorge Jovicich², Himanshu Joshi³, Leon Aksman⁴, John John³, A. B. Dey⁵, Arthur Toga⁴, Eileen Crimmins⁶, and Jinkook Lee^1
1CSCR, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, ²Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMEC),, University of Trento, Trento, Italy, ³Multimodal Brain Image Analysis Laboratory, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, ⁴Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, ⁵All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, ⁶Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Education offers neuroprotective effects against the progression of dementia. Limited information exists about such effects in non-Western populations, where formal education can be critically reduced. Here we examined dementia and education effects on brain morphometry in elderly healthy and mild cognitive impaired Indians. Morphometry revealed atrophy in areas typically related to MCI, enlarged lateral ventricles and reduced hippocampal volume. Education increased cortical thickness atrophy in the parahippocampal and temporal cortices (MCI group). This supports the cognitive reserve hypothesis, in which inter-individual differences in task processing is believed to allow some individuals to better cope with the neuropathology associated with dementia.

Forough Sodaei^1,2, Jafar Zamani^1,3, Maryam noroozian⁴, and Hamidreza Saligheh Rad^1,5
1Quantitative MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Research Center for Cellular and Molecular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of), ²Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of), ³Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of), ⁴Memory and Behavioral Neurology Department, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of), ⁵Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Morphologic alterations of AD have been conventionally associated with the cerebral cortex; however, it is clear that other areas of the brain, especially the hippocampus are also involved. These structures, together with white matter structures including fornix constitute the limbic system, which is anatomic substrate of the memory system. Neurodegeneration in these areas lead to clinical manifestation of AD. In this study, we evaluated integrity of the limbic-associated areas in three groups using DTI. Findings yielded that the DTI-derived indices of the limbic-associated areas offer potential biomarkers for early and differential diagnosis of AD.

Matthew Kiely¹, Nikkita Khattar¹, Curtis Triebswetter¹, Zhaoyuan Gong¹, Maryam H. Alsameen¹, Richard G. Spencer¹, and Mustapha Bouhrara^1
1Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, United States

Using myelin water fraction (MWF) and DTI, we investigated age- and sex-related differences in brain maturation and degeneration in a large cohort of unimpaired participants. We observed quadratic relationships between MWF or DTI indices and age, suggesting that brain maturation continues until middle age followed by a phase of rapid degeneration afterward. Sexual dimorphism in these processes was not significant in most cerebral regions studied. Finally, we observed weak-to-moderate correlations between DTI indices and MWF indicating that these indices could not serve as proxies of myelin content while highlighting the value of using multiple quantitative MRI metrics in clinical investigation.