Impact of White Matter Hyperintensities on Structural Connectivity and Cognition in Cognitively Intact ADNI Participants

Overview

Journal Neurobiol Aging

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Geriatrics
Neurology
Physiology

Date 2024 Jan 23

PMID 38262221

Authors

Mohammad Taghvaei

Dawn J Mechanic-Hamilton

Shokufeh Sadaghiani

Banafsheh Shakibajahromi

Sudipto Dolui

Sandhitsu Das

Christopher Brown

William Tackett

Pulkit Khandelwal

Philip Cook

Russell T Shinohara

Paul Yushkevich

Danielle S Bassett

David A Wolk

John A Detre

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We used indirect brain mapping with virtual lesion tractography to test the hypothesis that the extent of white matter tract disconnection due to white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is associated with corresponding tract-specific cognitive performance decrements. To estimate tract disconnection, WMH masks were extracted from FLAIR MRI data of 481 cognitively intact participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and used as regions of avoidance for fiber tracking in diffusion MRI data from 50 healthy young participants from the Human Connectome Project. Estimated tract disconnection in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, right frontal aslant tract, and right superior longitudinal fasciculus mediated the effects of WMH volume on executive function. Estimated tract disconnection in the left uncinate fasciculus mediated the effects of WMH volume on memory and in the right frontal aslant tract on language. In a subset of ADNI control participants with amyloid data, positive status increased the probability of periventricular WMH and moderated the relationship between WMH burden and tract disconnection in executive function performance.

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