Hippocampal CA1 apical neuropil atrophy in mild Alzheimer disease visualized with 7-T MRI

摘要: Objectives: In Alzheimer disease (AD), mounting evidence points to a greater role for synaptic loss than neuronal loss. Supporting this notion, multiple postmortem studies have demonstrated that the hippocampal CA1 apical neuropil is one of earliest sites pathology, exhibiting tau aggregates and then atrophy before there substantial pyramidal neurons themselves. cross-sectional study, we tested whether tissue in layer can be observed vivo patients with mild AD. Methods: We performed ultra-high-field 7-T MRI on subjects AD (n = 14) age-matched normal controls 16). With 2-dimensional T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo sequence was easily tolerated by subjects, obtained slices hippocampus at an in-plane resolution 195 μm. Results: On images revealing anatomic landmarks subfields strata, thinning compared controls. By contrast, 2 groups exhibited no difference thickness cell body or entire subfield. Hippocampal volume, measured conventional T1-weighted 3T, also did not differentiate these from Conclusions: apparent its superior spatial resolution, permits analysis very focal, early site pathology.