Longitudinal brain volumetric changes during one year in non-elderly healthy adults: a voxel-based morphometry study

Neuropsychology, autobiographical memory, and hippocampal volume in "younger" and "older" patients with chronic schizophrenia

Despite a wide range of studies on neuropsychology in schizophrenia, autobiographical memory (AM) has been scarcely investigated in these patients. Hence, less is known about AM in older patients and hippocampal contribution to autobiographical memories of varying remoteness. Therefore, we investigated hippocampal volume and AM along with important neuropsychological domains in patients with chronic schizophrenia and the respective relationships between these parameters. We compared 25 older patients with chronic schizophrenia to 23 younger patients and an older healthy control group (N = 21) with respect to AM, additional neuropsychological parameters, and hippocampal volume. Personal episodic and semantic memory was investigated using a semi-structured interview. Additional neuropsychological parameters were assessed by using a battery of standard neuropsychological tests. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed with an automated region-of-interest procedure. While hippocampal volume reduction and neuropsychological impairment were more pronounced in the older than in the younger patients, both groups showed equivalent reduced AM performance for recent personal episodes. In the patient group, significant correlations between left hippocampal volume and recent autobiographical episodes as well as personal semantic memories arose. Verbal memory and working memory were significantly correlated with right hippocampal volume; executive functions, however, were associated with bilateral hippocampal volumes. These findings underline the complexity of AM and its impairments in the course of schizophrenia in comparison to rather progressive neuropsychological deficits and address the importance of hippocampal contribution.

Juggling revisited - a voxel-based morphometry study with expert jugglers

Juggling is a highly interesting tool to investigate neuroplasticity associated with motor-learning. Several brain-imaging studies have reported changes in regional brain morphology in visual association cortices in individuals learning how to juggle a three-ball cascade. However, to our knowledge there are no studies that investigated expert jugglers, looking for specific features in regional brain morphology related to this highly specialized skill. Using T1-weighted images and voxel-based morphometry we investigated in a cross-sectional study design 16 expert jugglers, able to juggle at least five balls and an age- and gender-matched group of non-jugglers. We hypothesized that expert jugglers would show higher gray matter density in regions involved in visual motion perception and eye-hand coordination. Images were pre-processed and analyzed using SPM8. Age was included in the analyses as covariate of no interest. As compared to controls jugglers displayed several clusters of higher, regional gray matter density in the occipital and parietal lobes including the secondary visual cortex, the hMT+/V5 area bilaterally and the intraparietal sulcus bilaterally. Within the jugglers group we also found a correlation between performance and regional gray matter density in the right hMT+/V5 area. Our study provides evidence that expert jugglers show increased gray matter density in brain regions involved in visual motion perception and eye-hand coordination, i.e. brain areas that have previously been shown to undergo dynamic changes in terms of gray matter increases in subjects learning a basic three-ball cascade. The extent to which transient increases in beginners and the differences in experts and non-experts are based on the same neurobiological correlates remains to be fully elucidated.

Sports and brain morphology - a voxel-based morphometry study with endurance athletes and martial artists

Physical exercises and motor skill learning have been shown to induce changes in regional brain morphology, this has been demonstrated for various activities and tasks. Also individuals with special skills show differences in regional brain morphology. This has been indicated for professional musicians, London taxi drivers, as well as for athletes like dancers, golfers and judokas. However little is known about whether sports with different metabolic profiles (aerobic vs. anaerobic) are associated with different patterns of altered brain morphology. In this cross-sectional study we investigated two groups of high-performance athletes, one group performing sports that are thought to be mainly aerobic, and one group performing sports known to have intermittent phases of anaerobic metabolism. Using high-resolution structural imaging and voxel-based morphometry (VBM), we investigated a group of 26 male athletes consisting of 13 martial artists and 13 endurance athletes as well as a group of non-exercising men (n=13). VBM analyses revealed higher gray matter (GM) volumes in the supplementary motor area/dorsal premotor cortex (BA 6) in both athlete groups as compared to the control group. In addition, endurance athletes showed significantly higher GM volume in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), specifically in the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, which was not seen in the martial arts group. Our data suggest that high-performance sports are associated with changes in regional brain morphology in areas implicated in motor planning and motor learning. In addition high-level endurance sports seem to affect MTL structures, areas that have previously been shown to be modulated by aerobic exercise.

Brain expansion in patients with type II diabetes following insulin therapy: a preliminary study with longitudinal voxel-based morphometry

OBJECTIVE

We performed a longitudinal analysis based on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to investigate the brain structural and perfusion changes caused by insulin therapy in patients with type II diabetes.

METHODS

High resolution three-dimensional T1-weighted fast spoiled gradient recalled echo images and flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) images were obtained from 11 patients with type II diabetes before and 1 year after initiation of insulin therapy and 11 normal controls. Brain volume changes were investigated by a longitudinal voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and perfusion changes were evaluated by FAIR imaging between baseline and follow-up data.

RESULTS

Significant regional gray matter (GM) expansion located in bilateral frontal, parietal, and left occipital lobes, and regional white matter (WM) expansion was shown in left precentral subcortical WM and right angular subcortical WM after insulin therapy (P < .05 with FDR correction). Brain hyperperfusion was detected in bilateral frontal cortex, left occipital cortex, and right temporal cortex after insulin therapy (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with type II diabetes, brain expansion and hyperperfusion were demonstrated 1 year after initiation of insulin therapy, and insulin therapy could contribute to the brain volume gainment in the patients with type II diabetes.