High resolution structural and functional MRI of the hippocampus in young adults with Down syndrome

Down syndrome is the phenotypic consequence of trisomy 21, with clinical presentation including both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative components. Although the intellectual disability typically displayed by individuals with Down syndrome is generally global, it also involves disproportionate deficits in hippocampally-mediated cognitive processes. Hippocampal dysfunction may also relate to Alzheimer’s disease-type pathology, which can appear in as early as the first decade of life and becomes universal by age 40. Using 7-tesla MRI of the brain, we present an assessment of the structure and function of the hippocampus in 34 individuals with Down syndrome (mean age 24.5 years ± 6.5) and 27 age- and sex-matched typically developing healthy controls. In addition to increased whole-brain mean cortical thickness and lateral ventricle volumes (P
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Individuals with Down syndrome show distinct deficits in cognitive processes that are mediated by the hippocampus. Using high-resolution MRI, Koenig et al. find volume reductions of select hippocampal subfields and widespread changes in synchronicity of the hippocampus in individuals with Down syndrome.