Distinctive alterations of the cingulum bundle during aging and Alzheimer's disease

Brain imaging studies have revealed frontal disruption during aging and parieto-temporal disruption during Alzheimer's disease (AD) The present study aims at developing a specific method based on precise anatomical landmarks for assessing the integrity all along the course of the cingulum bundle, so as to determine if it presents the classical aging and AD dissociation Five regions of interest (ROIs) were placed on fractional anisotropy (FA) maps all along the cingulum in IS young (Gyoung), 15 70-year-old (Gold). and 15 AD subject (Galz) An age-related decrease of FA occurred in the anterior part of the bundle Moreover, a specific alteration of the supero-posterior region of the cingulum during AD was observed since mean FA values as well as mean number of fibers were significantly decreased in Oak compared to Gold and Gyoung This multiple ROIs placement allows for revealing distinctive alterations of the cingulum bundle during aging and AD, which could constitute the anatomical basis for the distinctive functional disconnection recently described in the literature using functional connectivity at rest (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved