New and Noteworthy Information—July 2014
Researchers have developed an MRI technique that aids in the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease with 85% accuracy, according to a study published online ahead of print June 11 in Neurology. The investigators compared 19 people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease while not on medication with 19 healthy people, matched for gender and age. Data suggest that patients with Parkinson’s disease had much lower connectivity in the basal ganglia. The researchers defined a threshold level of connectivity within the basal ganglia network. Connectivity below this level helped to predict who had Parkinson’s disease with 100% sensitivity and 89.5% specificity. The study authors also conducted their MRI test in a second group of 13 early-stage Parkinson’s patients as a validation of the approach; they correctly identified 11 of the 13 patients.
Blood pressure in later life may affect brain pathology and cognitive performance, depending on blood pressure at midlife, according to a study that was published online ahead of print June 4 in Neurology. Researchers examined data regarding 4,057 older participants (average age, 76) without dementia whose blood pressure had been measured during middle age. The patients’ blood pressure was measured again, and participants underwent MRI and tests of memory and cognition. Higher blood pressure in late life was associated with an increased risk of brain lesions, especially among patients without high blood pressure in middle age. Among participants with high blood pressure in middle age, lower diastolic blood pressure in late life was associated with smaller brain volumes and decreased memory and cognitive performance.
A copper compound could provide a therapy for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a study that was published June 4 in the Journal of Neuroscience. Mutations in copper–zinc-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are believed to cause ALS in humans and transgenic mice. Investigators found that most SOD1 in the spinal cord of mouse models of ALS was copper deficient. Treatment with copper (ATSM) decreased the pool of copper-deficient SOD1 and increased the pool of fully metallated SOD1 in the mice’s spinal cords. In addition, the compound significantly extended the mice’s survival and improved their locomotor function. When the researchers tracked isotopically enriched copper, they found that the increase in fully metallated SOD1 depended on the transfer of copper from copper (ATSM) to SOD1, suggesting that increased copper content of mutant SOD1 improved survival and locomotor function.
Quantitative susceptibility (QS) MRI may reflect disease progression accurately in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published online ahead of print May 4 in Radiology. Twenty-five patients with relapsing-remitting MS or clinically isolated syndrome and 15 age- and sex-matched controls underwent 7-T MRI. Researchers computed quantitative maps of MRI susceptibility parameters. The QS maps identified voxel-level increases in iron deposition in the subcortical gray matter of patients with MS, compared with controls. QS was strongly correlated with patients’ Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores. The volume of total white matter damage on QS maps correlated significantly with EDSS. Voxelwise QS indicated that age contributed to demyelination in patients with MS, suggesting that age-adjusted clinical scores may provide robust measures of disease severity.
—Kimberly Williams
