Thalamic energy dysfunction is associated with thalamo-cortical tract damage in multiple sclerosis: A diffusion spectroscopy study
Ricigliano, Vito A.G.; Tonietto, Matteo; Palladino, Raffaele; Poirion, Emilie; De Luca, Alberto; Branzoli, Francesca; Bera, Geraldine; Maillart, Elisabeth; Stankoff, Bruno; Bodini, Benedetta
(2021) Multiple Sclerosis Journal, volume 27, issue 4, pp. 528 - 538
(Article)
Abstract
Background: Diffusion-weighted 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (DW-MRS) allows to quantify creatine-phosphocreatine brain diffusivity (ADC(tCr)), whose reduction in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been proposed as a proxy of energy dysfunction. Objective: To investigate whether thalamic ADC(tCr) changes are associated with thalamo-cortical tract damage in MS. Methods: Twenty patients with MS and
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13 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in a DW-MRS and DW imaging (DWI) study. From DW-MRS, ADC(tCr) and total N-acetyl-aspartate diffusivity (ADC(tNAA)) were extracted in the thalami. Three thalamo-cortical tracts and one non-thalamic control tract were reconstructed from DWI. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), axial (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD), reflecting microstructural integrity, were extracted for each tract. Associations between thalamic ADC(tCr) and tract metrics were assessed using linear regression models adjusting for age, sex, thalamic volume, thalamic ADC(tNAA), and tract-specific lesion load. Results: Lower thalamic ADC(tCr) was associated with higher MD and RD of thalamo-cortical projections in MS (MD: p = 0.029; RD: p = 0.017), but not in HC (MD: p = 0.625, interaction term between thalamic ADC(tCr) and group = 0.019; RD: p = 0.320, interaction term = 0.05). Thalamic ADC(tCr) was not associated with microstructural changes of the control tract. Conclusion: Reduced thalamic ADC(tCr) correlates with thalamo-cortical tract damage in MS, showing that pathologic changes in thalamic energy metabolism are associated with structural degeneration of connected fibers.
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Keywords: diffusion tensor imaging, diffusion-weighted spectroscopy, energy dysfunction, Multiple sclerosis, neurodegeneration, tractography, Neurology, Clinical Neurology
ISSN: 1352-4585
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Note: Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The study was possible thanks to the support of the ARSEP and of the following grants: Institut des neuro-sciences translationnelle—ANR-10-IAIHU-06, and Infrastructure d’avenir en Biologie Santé—ANR-11-INBS-0006. Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The study was possible thanks to the support of the ARSEP and of the following grants: Institut des neuro-sciences translationnelle?ANR-10-IAIHU-06, and Infrastructure d?avenir en Biologie Sant??ANR-11-INBS-0006. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), 2020.
(Peer reviewed)