Patterns of striatal degeneration in frontotemporal dementia.

Patterns of striatal degeneration in frontotemporal dementia.
Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2013 Jan;27(1):74-83
Authors: Halabi C, Halabi A, Dean DL, Wang PN, Boxer AL, Trojanowski JQ, Dearmond SJ, Miller BL, Kramer JH, Seeley WW
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and semantic dementia have been associated with striatal degeneration, but few studies have delineated striatal subregion volumes in vivo or related them to the clinical phenotype. We traced caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens on magnetic resonance images to quantify volumes of these structures in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia, Alzheimer disease, and healthy controls (n=12 per group). We further related these striatal volumes to clinical deficits and neuropathologic findings in a subset of patients. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and semantic dementia showed significant overall striatal atrophy compared with controls. Moreover, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia showed panstriatal degeneration, whereas semantic dementia featured a more focal pattern involving putamen and accumbens. Right-sided striatal atrophy, especially in the putamen, correlated with the overall behavioral symptom severity and with specific behavioral domains. At autopsy, patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and semantic dementia showed striking and severe tau or TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa pathology, especially in ve...

Source: Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders - March 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatry Tags: Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord Source Type: research