Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the influence of the size of lateral ventricles on diffusion parameters of the normal cingulate bundle.
Methods
Eighty normal subjects (17–55 years) underwent MRI at 3 T including diffusion tensor imaging. Superior (SC) and inferior (IC) cingulum were analyzed separately. Mean diffusivity (MD0.30) and fractional anisotropy (FA0.30) were measured by tractography at FA threshold 0.30; further diffusion parameters were analyzed by tractography-based core analysis in volumes of 3.0 cm3/1.5 cm3. The diffusion parameters were correlated with corresponding cross-sectional coronal areas of lateral ventricles. The analysis was performed also separately for young (17–34) and middle-aged (35–55) subjects.
Results
FA0.30 values did not correlate with ventricular size, but there was a weak negative correlation (r = − 0.225) between MD0.30 of SC and ventricular size. In all controls and in the older age group, ventricular size correlated positively with core FA of SC (r = 0.262/r = 0.391) and negatively with mean diffusivity (r = − 0.324/r = − 0.303) and radial diffusivity (λ2: r = − 0.238/r = − 0.277; λ3: r = − 0.353/r = − 0.424) of the core of SC. In the younger age group, only the mean diffusivity of SC correlated with ventricular size (r = − 0.273). Ventricular size was not associated with axial diffusivity. The core parameters of IC did not correlate with ventricular size.
Conclusion
Radial diffusivity of the core of cingulum decreases in age-dependent ventricular enlargement, which can be related to tissue compaction with stretching of axons and diminution of extracellular spaces. The phenomenon, which is reverse to the assumed effect of age-related myelin loss, can influence on DTI parameters in middle-aged subjects.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Budde MD, Janes L, Gold E, Turtzo LC, Frank JA (2011) The contribution of gliosis to diffusion tensor anisotropy and tractography following traumatic brain injury: validation in the rat using Fourier analysis of stained tissue sections. Brain 134(8):2248–2260
Concha L, Gross DW, Wheatley BM, Beaulieu C (2006) Diffusion tensor imaging of time-dependent axonal and myelin degradation after corpus callosotomy in epilepsy patients. Neuroimage 32(3):1090–1099
MacDonald CL, Dikranian K, Bayly P, Holtzman D, Brody D (2007) Diffusion tensor imaging reliably detects experimental traumatic axonal injury and indicates approximate time of injury. J Neurosci 27(44):11869–11876
Song SK, Sun SW, Ju WK, Lin SJ, Cross AH, Neufeld AH (2003) Diffusion tensor imaging detects and differentiates axon and myelin degeneration in mouse optic nerve after retinal ischemia. Neuroimage 20(3):1714–1722
Jones DK, Knösche TR, Turner R (2013) White matter integrity, fiber count, and other fallacies: the do’s and don’ts of diffusion MRI. NeuroImage 73:239–254
Lebel C, Gee M, Camicioli R, Wieler M, Martin W, Beaulieu C (2012) Diffusion tensor imaging of white matter tract evolution over the lifespan. Neuroimage 60(1):340–352
Arshad M, Stanley JA, Raz N (2016) Adult age differences in subcortical myelin content are consistent with protracted myelination and unrelated to diffusion tensor imaging indices. Neuroimage 143:26–39
Hattori T, Ito K, Aoki S, Yuasa T, Sato R, Ishikawa M, Sawaura H, Hori M, Mizusawa H (2012) White matter alteration in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: tract-based spatial statistics study. AJNR 33(1):97–103
Jurcoane A, Keil F, Szelenyi A, Pfeilschifter W, Singer OC, Hattingen E (2014) Directional diffusion of corticospinal tract supports therapy decisions in idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus. Neuroradiology 56(1):5–13
Kamiya K, Hori M, Irie R, Miyajima M, Nakajima M, Kamagata K, Tsuruta K, Saito A, Nakazawa M, Suzuki Y, Mori H, Kunimatsu A, Arai H, Aoki S, Abe O (2017) Diffusion imaging of reversible and irreversible microstructural changes within the corticospinal tract in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus. Neuroimage Clin 14:663–671
Walhovd KB, Westlye LT, Amlien I, Espeseth T, Reinvang I, Raz N, Agartz I, Salat DH, Greve DN, Fischl B, Dale AM, Fjell AM (2011) Consistent neuroanatomical age-related volume differences across multiple samples. Neurobiol Aging 32(5):916–932
Nieuwenhuys R, Vogd J, Huijzen C (2008) The human central nervous system, fourth edition. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp 38–39
Catani M, Thiebaut de Schotten M. Atlas of human brain connections (2012) Oxford University Press, p 593
Kurki T, Himanen L, Vuorinen E, Myllyniemi A, Saarenketo AR, Kauko T, Brandstack N, Tenovuo O (2014) Diffusion tensor tractography-based analysis of the cingulum: clinical utility and findings in traumatic brain injury with chronic sequels. Neuroradiology 56(10):833–841
Brandstack N, Kurki T, Laalo J, Kauko T, Tenovuo O (2016) Reproducibility of tract-based and region-of-interest DTI analysis of long association tracts. Clin Neuroradiol 26(2):199–208
Jones DK, Christiansen KF, Chapman RJ, Aggleton JP (2013) Distinct subdivisions of the cingulum bundle revealed by diffusion MRI fibre tracking: implications for neuropsychological investigations. Neuropsychologia 51(1):67–78
Brandstack N, Kurki T, Tenovuo O (2013) Quantitative diffusion-tensor tractography of long association tracts in patients with traumatic brain injury without associated findings at routine MR imaging. Radiology 267(1):231–239
Hedman AM, van Haren NE, Schnack HG, Kahn RS, Hulshoff Pol HE (2012) Human brain changes across the life span: a review of 56 longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 33(8):1987–2002
Kochunov P, Williamson DE, Lancaster J, Fox P, Cornell J, Blangero J, Glahn DC (2012) Fractional anisotropy of water diffusion in cerebral white matter across the lifespan. Neurobiol Aging 33(1):9–20
Lebel C, Gee M, Camicioli R, Wieler M, Martin W, Beaulieu C (2012) Diffusion tensor imaging of white matter tract evolution over the lifespan. Neuroimage 60(1):340–352
Merluzzi AP, Dean DC, Adluru N et al (2016) Age-dependent differences in brain tissue microstructure assessed with neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging. Neurobiol Aging 43:79–88
Sala S, Agosta F, Pagani E, Copetti M, Comi G, Filippi M (2012) Microstructural changes and atrophy in brain white matter tracts with aging. Neurobiol Aging 33(3):488–498
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Funding
No funding was received for this study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kurki, T.J.I., Heiskanen, L.A.A. Diffusion parameters of the core of cingulum are associated with age-related ventricular enlargement: a diffusion tensor tractography study. Neuroradiology 60, 1013–1018 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-018-2068-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-018-2068-3