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Assessing Cortical Cerebral Microinfarcts on High Resolution MR Images
08:39

Assessing Cortical Cerebral Microinfarcts on High Resolution MR Images

Published on: November 20, 2015

Cortical microinfarcts in Alzheimer's disease and subcortical vascular dementia

Yoko Okamoto1, Masafumi Ihara, Youshi Fujita

  • 1Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. yoko416@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Neuroreport
|June 2, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Cortical microinfarcts are common in Alzheimer's disease, particularly in the occipital lobe, but rare in vascular dementia. These findings suggest Alzheimer's disease-related mechanisms, like amyloid angiopathy, cause these brain lesions.

Area of Science:

  • Neuropathology
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Cerebrovascular Diseases

Background:

  • Cortical microinfarcts are observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) but their presence in subcortical vascular dementia (SVD) is less clear, raising questions about their disease specificity.
  • Understanding the distribution and underlying causes of cortical microinfarcts is crucial for differentiating between neurodegenerative and vascular dementia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare the prevalence and distribution of cortical microinfarcts in patients with Alzheimer's disease and subcortical vascular dementia.
  • To determine the association of cortical microinfarcts with Alzheimer's disease-specific pathologies, particularly amyloid angiopathy.

Main Methods:

  • A neuropathological analysis was conducted on brain tissue samples from patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (n=8) and subcortical vascular dementia (n=6).
  • The distribution of cortical microinfarcts was mapped, and their proximity to amyloid-beta deposited vessels and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression was assessed.

Main Results:

  • Cortical microinfarcts were frequently detected in Alzheimer's disease cases, contrasting with their rare occurrence in subcortical vascular dementia.
  • In Alzheimer's disease, cortical microinfarcts were predominantly found in the occipital lobe and vascular borderzones, areas associated with amyloid angiopathy.
  • Cortical microinfarcts were consistently located near amyloid-beta-positive vessels expressing ICAM-1.

Conclusions:

  • Cortical microinfarcts are significantly more prevalent in Alzheimer's disease than in subcortical vascular dementia, suggesting disease specificity.
  • The findings strongly indicate that the pathogenesis of cortical microinfarcts in AD is linked to Alzheimer's disease-related mechanisms, most notably amyloid angiopathy.

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