The Degeneration of Locus Coeruleus Occurring During Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Progression: a Neuroimaging Follow-up Investigation

Overview

Journal Brain Struct Funct

Specialty Neurology

Date 2024 Apr 16

PMID 38625557

Authors

Alessandro Galgani

Francesco Lombardo

Francesca Frijia

Nicola Martini

Gloria Tognoni

Nicola Pavese

Filippo Sean Giorgi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The noradrenergic nucleus Locus Coeruleus (LC) is precociously involved in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology, and its degeneration progresses during the course of the disease. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), researchers showed also in vivo in patients the disruption of LC, which can be observed both in Mild Cognitively Impaired individuals and AD demented patients. In this study, we report the results of a follow-up neuroradiological assessment, in which we evaluated the LC degeneration overtime in a group of cognitively impaired patients, submitted to MRI both at baseline and at the end of a 2.5-year follow-up. We found that a progressive LC disruption can be observed also in vivo, involving the entire nucleus and associated with clinical diagnosis. Our findings parallel neuropathological ones, which showed a continuous increase of neuronal death and volumetric atrophy within the LC with the progression of Braak's stages for neurofibrillary pathology. This supports the reliability of MRI as a tool for exploring the integrity of the central noradrenergic system in neurodegenerative disorders.

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