Lyduine Collij and colleagues just published “White matter microstructure disruption in early stage amyloid
pathology” in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. 

Abstract: 

Introduction: Amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation is the first pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and
it is associated with altered white matter (WM) microstructure. We aimed to investigate this relationship at a
regional level in a cognitively unimpaired cohort.

Methods: We included 179 individuals from the European Medical Information Framework for AD (EMIF‐AD)
preclinAD study, who underwent diffusion magnetic resonance (MR) to determine tract‐level fractional
anisotropy (FA); mean, radial, and axial diffusivity (MD/RD/AxD); and dynamic [18F]flutemetamol) positron
emission tomography (PET) imaging to assess amyloid burden.

Results: Regression analyses showed a non‐linear relationship between regional amyloid burden and WM
microstructure. Low amyloid burden was associated with increased FA and decreased MD/RD/AxD, followed by
decreased FA and increased MD/RD/AxD upon higher amyloid burden. The strongest association was observed
between amyloid burden in the precuneus and body of the corpus callosum (CC) FA and diffusivity (MD/RD)
measures. In addition, amyloid burden in the anterior cingulate cortex strongly related to AxD and RD measures
in the genu CC.

Discussion: Early amyloid deposition is associated with changes in WM microstructure. The non‐linear relationship
might reflect multiple stages of axonal damage.

Congratulations to the authors: Lyduine E. Collij, Silvia Ingala, Herwin Top, Viktor Wottschel, Kristine E. Stickney, Jori Tomassen, Elles Konijnenberg, Mara ten Kate, Carole Sudre, Isadora Lopes Alves, Maqsood M. Yaqub, Alle Meije Wink, Dennis Van ‘t Ent, Philip Schelten,s Bart N.M. van Berckel, Pieter Jelle Visser, Frederik Barkhof, Anouk Den Braber

This open access article can be found here!