Gray and white matter structural changes in corticobasal syndrome

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
• Understanding the underlying brain structural changes is crucial for diagnosis and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gray matter and white matter (WM) changes in patients with corticobasal syndrome (CBS).
• To correlate these changes with clinical severity and disease duration.

Main Methods:

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T1-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used.
• FreeSurfer and Tracts Constrained by Underlying Anatomy (TCA) software analyzed cortical thickness (CTh), subcortical volumes, and WM tract integrity.
• Patients were divided into left-dominant (L-CBS) and right-dominant (R-CBS) subgroups.

Main Results:

• Patients with CBS showed reduced CTh in prefrontal, motor, and temporal regions compared to healthy subjects (HS).
• Significant volume loss was observed in the putamen, hippocampus, accumbens, corpus callosum, and amygdala.
• WM tracts exhibited altered diffusion parameters, with axial diffusivity changes more pronounced than radial diffusivity.
• Motor severity correlated with contralateral CTh and subcortical volumes; disease duration correlated with CTh asymmetry.

Conclusions:

• Cortical thinning, subcortical volume loss, and WM tract degeneration are key pathological features of CBS.
• These structural brain abnormalities are linked to clinical symptoms and disease progression.