Quantitative histomorphometry of capillary microstructure in deep white matter

Publication date: Available online 25 April 2019Source: NeuroImage: ClinicalAuthor(s): Meghdoot Mozumder, Jose M. Pozo, Santiago Coelho, Marina Constantini, Julie Simpson, J. Robin Highley, Paul G. Ince, Alejandro F. FrangiAbstractWhite matter lesions represent a major risk factor for dementia in elderly people. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies have demonstrated cerebral blood flow reduction in age-related white matter lesions, indicating that vascular alterations are involved in developing white matter lesions. Hypoperfusion and changes in capillary morphology are generally linked to dementia. However, a quantitative study describing these microvascular alterations in white matter lesions is missing in the literature; most previous microvascular studies being on the cortex. The aim of this work is to identify and quantify capillary microstructural changes involved in the appearance of deep subcortical lesions (DSCL). We characterize the distribution of capillary diameter, thickness, and density in the deep white matter in a population of 75 elderly subjects, stratified into three equal groups according to DSCL: Control (subject without DSCL), Lesion (sample presenting DSCL), and Normal Appearing White Matter (NAWM, the subject presented DSCL but not at the sampled tissue location). Tissue samples were selected from the Cognitive Function and Aging Study (CFAS), a cohort representative of an aging population, from which immunohistochemically-labeled histological image...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research