RESUMO
Noninvasive diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) can be used to map the neural connectivity between distinct areas in the intact brain, but the standard resolution achieved fundamentally limits the sensitivity of such maps. We investigated the sensitivity and specificity of high-resolution postmortem dMRI and probabilistic tractography in rhesus macaque brains to produce retinotopic maps of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and extrastriate cortical visual area V5/MT based on their topographic connections with the previously established functional retinotopic map of primary visual cortex (V1). We also replicated the differential connectivity of magnocellular and parvocellular LGN compartments with V1 across visual field positions. Predicted topographic maps based on dMRI data largely matched the established retinotopy of both LGN and V5/MT. Furthermore, tractography based on in vivo dMRI data from the same macaque brains acquired at standard field strength (3T) yielded comparable topographic maps in many cases. We conclude that tractography based on dMRI is sensitive enough to reveal the intrinsic organization of ordered connections between topographically organized neural structures and their resultant functional organization.
Assuntos
Córtex Visual , Vias Visuais , Animais , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética , Corpos Geniculados/diagnóstico por imagem , Macaca mulatta , Córtex Visual/diagnóstico por imagem , Vias Visuais/diagnóstico por imagemRESUMO
The dorsal hippocampal commissure (DHC) is a white matter tract that provides interhemispheric connections between temporal lobe brain regions. Despite the importance of these regions for learning and memory, there is scant evidence of a role for the DHC in successful memory performance. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and white matter tractography to reconstruct the DHC in both humans (in vivo) and nonhuman primates (ex vivo). Across species, our findings demonstrate a close consistency between the known anatomy and tract reconstructions of the DHC. Anterograde tract-tracer techniques also highlighted the parahippocampal origins of DHC fibers in nonhuman primates. Finally, we derived diffusion tensor MRI metrics from the DHC in a large sample of human subjects to investigate whether interindividual variation in DHC microstructure is predictive of memory performance. The mean diffusivity of the DHC correlated with performance in a standardized recognition memory task, an effect that was not reproduced in a comparison commissure tract-the anterior commissure. These findings highlight a potential role for the DHC in recognition memory, and our tract reconstruction approach has the potential to generate further novel insights into the role of this previously understudied white matter tract in both health and disease.
Assuntos
Fórnice/anatomia & histologia , Fórnice/fisiologia , Reconhecimento Psicológico/fisiologia , Adulto , Animais , Chlorocebus aethiops , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética , Feminino , Humanos , Macaca fascicularis , Masculino , Vias Neurais/anatomia & histologia , Vias Neurais/fisiologia , Técnicas de Rastreamento Neuroanatômico , Especificidade da Espécie , Substância Branca/anatomia & histologia , Substância Branca/fisiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Extrastriate visual area V5/MT in primates is defined both structurally by myeloarchitecture and functionally by distinct responses to visual motion. Myelination is directly identifiable from postmortem histology but also indirectly by image contrast with structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). First, we compared the identification of V5/MT using both sMRI and histology in Rhesus macaques. A section-by-section comparison of histological slices with in vivo and postmortem sMRI for the same block of cortical tissue showed precise correspondence in localizing heavy myelination for V5/MT and neighboring MST. Thus, sMRI in macaques accurately locates histologically defined myelin within areas known to be motion selective. Second, we investigated the functionally homologous human motion complex (hMT+) using high-resolution in vivo imaging. Humans showed considerable intersubject variability in hMT+ location, when defined with myelin-weighted sMRI signals to reveal structure. When comparing sMRI markers to functional MRI in response to moving stimuli, a region of high myelin signal was generally located within the hMT+ complex. However, there were considerable differences in the alignment of structural and functional markers between individuals. Our results suggest that variation in area identification for hMT+ based on structural and functional markers reflects individual differences in human regional brain architecture.
Assuntos
Variação Biológica Individual , Córtex Visual/diagnóstico por imagem , Córtex Visual/fisiologia , Percepção Visual/fisiologia , Adulto , Animais , Mapeamento Encefálico , Feminino , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Macaca mulatta , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Bainha de Mielina , Especificidade da Espécie , Córtex Visual/anatomia & histologia , Vias Visuais/anatomia & histologia , Vias Visuais/diagnóstico por imagem , Vias Visuais/fisiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
There is ample evidence that the occipital cortex of congenitally blind individuals processes nonvisual information. It remains a debate whether the cross-modal activation of the occipital cortex is mediated through the modulation of preexisting corticocortical projections or the reorganisation of thalamocortical connectivity. Current knowledge on this topic largely stems from anatomical studies in animal models. The aim of this study was to test whether purported changes in thalamocortical connectivity in blindness can be revealed by tractography based on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. To assess the thalamocortical network, we used a clustering method based on the thalamic white matter projections towards predefined cortical regions. Five thalamic clusters were obtained in each group representing their cortical projections. Although we did not find differences in the thalamocortical network between congenitally blind individuals, late blind individuals, and normal sighted controls, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices revealed significant microstructural changes within thalamic clusters of both blind groups. Furthermore, we find a significant decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA) in occipital and temporal thalamocortical projections in both blind groups that were not captured at the network level. This suggests that plastic microstructural changes have taken place, but not in a degree to be reflected in the tractography-based thalamocortical network.
Assuntos
Cegueira/congênito , Cegueira/patologia , Córtex Cerebral/patologia , Tálamo/patologia , Substância Branca/patologia , Adulto , Anisotropia , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética , Imagem de Tensor de Difusão , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Vias Neurais/patologiaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the relationship between motor resting-state connectivity of the dorsal pre-motor cortex (PMd) and clinical disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 27 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) and 15 patients with secondary progressive MS (SP-MS) underwent functional resting-state magnetic resonance imaging. Clinical disability was assessed using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Independent component analysis was used to characterize motor resting-state connectivity. Multiple regression analysis was performed in SPM8 between the individual expression of motor resting-state connectivity in PMd and EDSS scores including age as covariate. Separate post hoc analyses were performed for patients with RR-MS and SP-MS. RESULTS: The EDSS scores ranged from 0 to 7 with a median score of 4.3. Motor resting-state connectivity of left PMd showed a positive linear relation with clinical disability in patients with MS. This effect was stronger when considering the group of patients with RR-MS alone, whereas patients with SP-MS showed no increase in coupling strength between left PMd and the motor resting-state network with increasing clinical disability. No significant relation between motor resting-state connectivity of the right PMd and clinical disability was detected in MS. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in functional coupling between left PMd and the motor resting-state network with increasing clinical disability can be interpreted as adaptive reorganization of the motor system to maintain motor function, which appears to be limited to the relapsing-remitting stage of the disease.
Assuntos
Pessoas com Deficiência , Córtex Motor/irrigação sanguínea , Córtex Motor/fisiopatologia , Esclerose Múltipla/patologia , Esclerose Múltipla/fisiopatologia , Vias Neurais/fisiopatologia , Descanso/fisiologia , Adulto , Avaliação da Deficiência , Feminino , Lateralidade Funcional/fisiologia , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Vias Neurais/irrigação sanguínea , Oxigênio/sangue , Análise de Componente PrincipalRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The potential of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as biomarkers of disease activity and severity in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between serum concentrations of NfL, GFAP, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in progressive MS. METHODS: Serum concentrations of NfL and GFAP were measured in 32 healthy controls and 32 patients with progressive MS from whom clinical and MRI data including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were obtained during three years of follow-up. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of NfL and GFAP at follow-up were higher in progressive MS patients than in healthy controls and serum NfL correlated with the EDSS score. Decreasing fractional anisotropy (FA) in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) correlated with worsening EDSS scores and higher serum NfL. Higher serum NfL and increasing T2 lesion volume correlated with worsening paced autitory serial addition test scores. In multivariable regression analyses with serum GFAP and NfL as independent factors and DTI measures of NAWM as dependent factors, we showed that high serum NfL at follow-up was independently associated with decreasing FA and increasing MD in NAWM. Moreover, we found that high serum GFAP was independently associated with decreasing MD in NAWM and with decreasing MD and increasing FA in cortical gray matter. CONCLUSION: Serum concentrations of NfL and GFAP are increased in progressive MS and are associated with distinct microstructural changes in NAWM and CGM.
Assuntos
Esclerose Múltipla Crônica Progressiva , Esclerose Múltipla , Humanos , Esclerose Múltipla/patologia , Imagem de Tensor de Difusão , Proteína Glial Fibrilar Ácida , Filamentos Intermediários/patologia , Esclerose Múltipla Crônica Progressiva/patologia , Substância Cinzenta/diagnóstico por imagem , Substância Cinzenta/patologia , Biomarcadores , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/patologiaRESUMO
STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical outcome. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to present anatomically consistent and independent spinal cord atrophy measures based on standard MRI material and analyze their specific relations to sensory and motor outcome in individuals with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTING: Danish study on human SCI. METHODS: We included 19 individuals with chronic incomplete SCI and 16 healthy controls. Participants underwent MRI and a neurological examination including sensory testing for light touch and pinprick, and muscle strength. Antero-posterior width (APW), left-right width (LRW) and cross-sectional spinal cord area (SCA) were extracted from MRI at the spinal level of C2. The angular variation of the spinal cord radius over the full circle was also extracted and compared with the clinical scores. RESULTS: The motor score was correlated to LRW and the sensory scores were correlated to APW. The scores correlated also well with decreases in spinal cord radius in oblique angles in coherent and non-overlapping sectors for the sensory and motor qualities respectively. CONCLUSION: APW and LRW can be used to assess sensory and motor function independently. The finding is corresponding well with the respective locations of the main sensory and motor pathways.
Assuntos
Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Paralisia/patologia , Transtornos de Sensação/patologia , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/diagnóstico , Traumatismos da Medula Espinal/patologia , Medula Espinal/patologia , Adulto , Atrofia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Vias Neurais/patologia , Paralisia/diagnóstico , Paralisia/etiologia , Transtornos de Sensação/diagnóstico , Transtornos de Sensação/etiologiaRESUMO
Characterization of porous media is essential in a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. Microstructural features can be probed non-invasively by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, diffusion encoding in conventional dMRI may yield similar signatures for very different microstructures, which represents a significant limitation for disentangling individual microstructural features in heterogeneous materials. To solve this problem, we propose an augmented multidimensional diffusion encoding (MDE) framework, which unlocks a novel encoding dimension to assess time-dependent diffusion specific to structures with different microscopic anisotropies. Our approach relies on spectral analysis of complex but experimentally efficient MDE waveforms. Two independent contrasts to differentiate features such as cell shape and size can be generated directly by signal subtraction from only three types of measurements. Analytical calculations and simulations support our experimental observations. Proof-of-concept experiments were applied on samples with known and distinctly different microstructures. We further demonstrate substantially different contrasts in different tissue types of a post mortem brain. Our simultaneous assessment of restriction size and shape may be instrumental in studies of a wide range of porous materials, enable new insights into the microstructure of biological tissues or be of great value in diagnostics.
RESUMO
Clinical depression is accompanied by changes in sleep patterning, which is controlled in a circadian fashion. It is thus desirable that animal models of depression mirror such diurnally-specific state alterations, along with other behavioral and physiological changes. We previously found several changes in behavior indicative of a depression-like phenotype in offspring of rats subjected to repeated, variable prenatal stress (PNS), including increased locomotor activity during specific periods of the circadian cycle. We, therefore, investigated whether PNS rats also exhibit alterations in sleep/wakefulness behavior around the change from light-to-dark phase. Control and PNS Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with electrodes for continuous monitoring of electroencephalic activity used to determine behavioral state. The distribution of slow-wave sleep (SWS), rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) and wakefulness was compared for periods before and after lights were turned off, between baseline conditions and after exposure to an acute stressor. Both REMS and SWS amounts were increased in PNS rats relative to control animals in the beginning of the dark phase. REMS changes were due to an increase in REMS bout number, rather than in bout duration. During this circadian time period, we did not find any sex differences in the state changes. These results indicate that PNS affects baseline sleep patterning in both male and female rats around active-phase onset.
Assuntos
Ritmo Circadiano/fisiologia , Depressão/psicologia , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal/psicologia , Fases do Sono/fisiologia , Estresse Psicológico/psicologia , Animais , Comportamento Animal/fisiologia , Depressão/fisiopatologia , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal/fisiopatologia , Ratos , Ratos Sprague-Dawley , Fatores Sexuais , Vigília/fisiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterised by diffuse changes on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which complicates the use of MRI as a diagnostic and prognostic marker. The relationship between MRI measures (conventional and non-conventional) and clinical disability in progressive MS therefore warrants further investigation. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between clinical disability and MRI measures in patients with progressive MS. METHODS: Data from 93 primary and secondary progressive MS patients who had participated in 3 phase 2 clinical trials were included in this cross-sectional study. From 3T MRI baseline scans we calculated total T2 lesion volume and analysed magnetisation transfer ratio (MTR) and the diffusion tensor imaging indices fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in T2 lesions, normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) and cortical grey matter. Disability was assessed by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and the MS functional composite. RESULTS: T2 lesion volume was associated with impairment by all clinical measures. MD and MTR in T2 lesions were significantly related to disability, and lower FA values correlated with worse hand function in NAWM. In multivariable analyses, increasing clinical disability was independently correlated with increasing T2 lesion volumes and MTR in T2 lesions. CONCLUSION: In progressive MS, clinical disability is related to lesion volume and microstructure.
Assuntos
Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Esclerose Múltipla Crônica Progressiva/diagnóstico por imagem , Estudos de Coortes , Estudos Transversais , Imagem de Tensor de Difusão , Avaliação da Deficiência , Feminino , Substância Cinzenta/diagnóstico por imagem , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Esclerose Múltipla Crônica Progressiva/fisiopatologia , Substância Branca/diagnóstico por imagemRESUMO
Stress during rat gestation can elicit depression-like physiological and behavioral responses in the offspring. However, human clinical depression is more prevalent among females than males. Accordingly, we examined how repeated variable prenatal stress (PS) alters rat anxiety- and depression-like behavior as well as circadian patterning of motor activity in both male and female offspring. For this purpose, we exposed pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats to multiple stressors during gestational days 13-21. Subsequently, we monitored locomotor and rearing/climbing activities in home-like cages for 24 h and measured anxiety- (elevated plus maze, EPM) and depression-like (forced swim test, FST) behaviors in the offspring at a young adult age. As a stressful event later in life (in addition to PS) may be needed to actually trigger an episode of clinical depression, half of the animals were exposed to an acute stressor (elevated platform) before EPM testing. Dams exposed to the stressor battery had increased plasma corticosterone levels compared with controls. Male PS offspring displayed changes in locomotor and rearing/climbing activity relative to controls. Additionally, anxiety measures in the EPM were affected in control animals after acute stressor exposure, however, this response was blunted in PS offspring. Moreover, FST immobility, as an indicator of depressive-like behavior, was increased in female but not male PS rats. Altogether, our results identify both sex- and circadian phase-specific effects of PS. These findings indicate that the PS rat model reflects multiple clinical depression characteristics, including elevated female vulnerability.
Assuntos
Comportamento Animal , Transtorno Depressivo/etiologia , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal/fisiopatologia , Estresse Fisiológico , Estresse Psicológico/complicações , Animais , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal/psicologia , Ratos , Ratos Sprague-Dawley , Fatores SexuaisRESUMO
Two microbial screening test systems for gene (point) mutations, the Salmonella typhimurium assay (TA1535, TA1537, TA1538, TA98 and TA100) and the Escherichia coli WP2 reverse-mutation system (WP2, WP2uvrA, WP2pKM101 and WP2uvrApKM101), were compared with regard to sensitivity toward a broad spectrum of compounds that cause base-pair or frameshift mutations and that have known carcinogenic qualities. Based on available published literature we found that all 44 carcinogens and 9 non-carcinogens examined in both test systems also met with criteria for data acceptance drawn up by us. The results obtained are: firstly, that the Salmonella assay is decidedly better validated than the E. coli WP2 test; and secondly, that the E. coli test system sensitivity (91%) is fully on a par with the sensitivity of the Salmonella assay (72%). This last is in divergence from earlier reports, e.g. Brusick et al. (1980), and this difference must be ascribed to the new plasmid-containing strains. The many compounds not tested in the E. coli department result in fewer false negatives in the E. coli test system and their omission constitutes a bias in favour of the E. coli assay. By eliminating compounds that are negative in Salmonella and dropped from the WP2 analysis owing to insufficient data, the sensitivity of the Salmonella system is raised to 84% as compared with 91% for the WP2 assay. The results further indicate that some of the tester strains are superfluous, and show an exceedingly sensitive test can be performed by combining the best tester strains from the two test systems.
Assuntos
Carcinógenos/toxicidade , Escherichia coli/efeitos dos fármacos , Testes de Mutagenicidade , Mutagênicos , Mutação , Salmonella typhimurium/efeitos dos fármacos , Escherichia coli/genética , Salmonella typhimurium/genética , Especificidade da EspécieRESUMO
A new method for sleep-stage classification using a causal probabilistic network as automatic classifier has been implemented and validated. The system uses features from the primary sleep signals from the brain (EEG) and the eyes (AOG) as input. From the EEG, features are derived containing spectral information which is used to classify power in the classical spectral bands, sleep spindles and K-complexes. From AOG, information on rapid eye movements is derived. Features are extracted every 2 seconds. The CPN-based sleep classifier was implemented using the HUGIN system, an application tool to handle causal probabilistic networks. The results obtained using different training approaches show agreements ranging from 68.7 to 70.7% between the system and the two experts when a pooled agreement is computed over the six subjects. As a comparison, the interrater agreement between the two experts was found to be 71.4%, measured also over the six subjects.