Open AccessAtrophy of presubiculum and subiculum is the earliest hippocampal anatomical marker of Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Carlesimo Giovanni A.,
Piras Fabrizio,
Orfei Maria Donata,
Iorio Mariangela,
Caltagirone Carlo,
Spalletta Gianfranco
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia: diagnosis, assessment and disease monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.497
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2352-8729
DOI - 10.1016/j.dadm.2014.12.001
Subject(s) - subiculum , entorhinal cortex , hippocampal formation , hippocampus , atrophy , neuroscience , dentate gyrus , psychology , perforant pathway , recall , pathology , medicine , perforant path , cognitive psychology
Background There is no consensus about which hippocampal subfields become atrophic earliest in the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods Thirty AD patients, 41 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and 38 healthy controls (HCs) underwent cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (with an automated segmentation protocol for the volumetric analysis of hippocampal subfields) and a test of immediate and delayed recall of a 15‐word list. Results The volumes of the presubiculum and subiculum presented the most remarkable reduction in the patient's groups. In the MCI group, only the volumes of presubiculum and subiculum predicted performance on the memory tests. In AD patients, the volumes of all hippocampal subfields (with the notable exception of the CA1) predicted memory scores. Conclusions Our data point to a prevalent atrophy of the presubicular‐subicular complex from the early phases of AD. This finding is consistent with neuropathological observations in AD patients and probably reflects the severe degeneration of the perforant pathway while penetrating the hippocampus through the subicular field in its course from the entorhinal cortex to the dentate gyrus.