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Three-dimensional mapping of neurofibrillary tangle burden in the human medial temporal lobe
- Source :
- Brain : a journal of neurology. 144(9)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Tau protein neurofibrillary tangles are closely linked to neuronal/synaptic loss and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Our knowledge of the pattern of neurofibrillary tangle progression in the human brain, critical to the development of imaging biomarkers and interpretation of in vivo imaging studies in Alzheimer’s disease, is based on conventional two-dimensional histology studies that only sample the brain sparsely. To address this limitation, ex vivo MRI and dense serial histological imaging in 18 human medial temporal lobe specimens (age 75.3 ± 11.4 years, range 45 to 93) were used to construct three-dimensional quantitative maps of neurofibrillary tangle burden in the medial temporal lobe at individual and group levels. Group-level maps were obtained in the space of an in vivo brain template, and neurofibrillary tangles were measured in specific anatomical regions defined in this template. Three-dimensional maps of neurofibrillary tangle burden revealed significant variation along the anterior-posterior axis. While early neurofibrillary tangle pathology is thought to be confined to the transentorhinal region, we found similar levels of burden in this region and other medial temporal lobe subregions, including amygdala, temporopolar cortex, and subiculum/cornu ammonis 1 hippocampal subfields. Overall, the three-dimensional maps of neurofibrillary tangle burden presented here provide more complete information about the distribution of this neurodegenerative pathology in the region of the cortex where it first emerges in Alzheimer’s disease, and may help inform the field about the patterns of pathology spread, as well as support development and validation of neuroimaging biomarkers.
- Subjects :
- Male
Tau protein
Hippocampal formation
Temporal lobe
Cohort Studies
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
medicine
Humans
Cognitive decline
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Brain Mapping
biology
Neurodegeneration
Subiculum
Neurofibrillary tangle
Neurofibrillary Tangles
Human brain
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Temporal Lobe
medicine.anatomical_structure
biology.protein
Female
Neurology (clinical)
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14602156
- Volume :
- 144
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Brain : a journal of neurology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bab03e3d2408c7441c4212e6edb93400