The Brain Donation Program in South Korea

The top 100 most-cited articles citing human brain banking from 1970 to 2020: a bibliometric analysis

Many articles involving human brain banks have been published. Bibliometric analysis can determine the history of the development of research and future research trends in a specific field. Three independent researchers retrieved and reviewed articles from the Web of Science database using the following strategy: "TS = (((brain OR cerebral) AND (bank* OR biobank*)) OR brainbank*)." The top 100 most-cited articles were identified and listed in descending order by total citations. Web of Science was used to identify ten recent articles describing bank construction. GeenMedical ( https://www.geenmedical.com/ ) was used to identify ten recent articles from journals with an impact factor (IF) > 20. The top 100 most-cited articles citing human brain banks were published between 1991 and 2017. Fifty-two percent of the articles focused on a specific type of neurodegenerative disease, and 16% discussed the construction and development of human brain banks. Articles using brain tissue had more total and annual citations than those on bank construction. Ten articles with high IFs were published from 2017 to 2019, and they were primarily studies using novel research techniques such RNA sequencing and genome-wide association studies. Most studies were published in journals specializing in neurology or neuroscience such as Movement Disorders (10%), and had been conducted in the United States (52%) by neurologists (62%). The top 100 most-cited articles and recent publications citing human brain banks and their bibliometric characteristics were identified and analyzed, which may serve as a useful reference and pave the way for further research.

Differences in neuroimaging features of early- versus late-onset nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia

This study investigated distinct neuroimaging features measured by cortical thickness and subcortical structural shape abnormality in early-onset (EO, onset age <65 years) and late-onset (LO, onset age ≥65 years) nonfluent/agrammatic variant of primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) patients. Cortical thickness and subcortical structural shape analyses were performed using a surface-based method from 38 patients with nfvPPA and 76 cognitively normal individuals. To minimize the effects of physiological aging, we used W-scores in comparisons between the groups. The EO-nfvPPA group exhibited more extensive cortical thickness reductions predominantly in the left perisylvian, lateral and medial prefrontal, temporal, posterior cingulate, and precuneus regions than the LO-nfvPPA group. The EO-nfvPPA group also exhibited significantly greater subcortical structural shape abnormality than the LO-nfvPPA group, mainly in the left striatum, hippocampus, and amygdala. Our findings suggested that there were differences in neuroimaging features between these groups by the age of symptom onset, which might be explained by underlying heterogeneous neuropathological differences or the age-related brain reserve hypothesis.

Distinct Neural Correlates of Executive Function by Amyloid Positivity and Associations with Clinical Progression in Mild Cognitive Impairment

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify the neural basis of executive function (EF) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) according to beta-amyloid (Aβ) positivity. Furthermore, we explored if the identified brain areas could serve as predictors for clinical progression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We included individuals with aMCI using data from [¹⁸F]-florbetapir-positron emission tomography (PET), fluorodeoxyglucose-PET, and EF scores, as well as follow-up clinical severity scores at 1 and 5 years from baseline from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. The correlations between EF score and regional cerebral glucose metabolism (rCMglc) were analyzed separately for aMCI with low Aβ burden (aMCI Aβ-, n=230) and aMCI with high Aβ burden (aMCI Aβ+, n=268). Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to investigate the associations between rCMglc and clinical progression.

RESULTS

Longitudinal courses differed between aMCI Aβ- and aMCI Aβ+ groups. On average, aMCI Aβ- subjects maintained their level of clinical severity, whereas aMCI Aβ+ subjects showed progression. EF impairment in aMCI Aβ- was related to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), whereas that in aMCI Aβ+ was related to Alzheimer's Disease-vulnerable brain regions. ACC and the posterior cingulate cortex were associated with clinical progression in aMCI Aβ- and aMCI Aβ+, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that although MCI subjects showed similar behavioral phenotypes at the time of diagnosis, EF and further progression were associated with different brain regions according to Aβ burden. Clarification of the etiologies and nature of EF impairment in aMCI are critical for disease prognosis and management.

THK5351 and flortaucipir PET with pathological correlation in a Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patient: a case report

Background

THK5351 and flortaucipir tau ligands have high affinity for paired helical filament tau, yet diverse off-target bindings have been reported. Recent data support the hypothesis that THK5351 binds to monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) expressed from reactive astrocytes and that flortaucipir has an affinity toward MAO-A and B; however, pathological evidence is lacking. We performed a head-to-head comparison of the two tau ligands in a sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) patient and performed an imaging-pathological correlation study.

Case presentation

A 67-year-old man visited our clinic a history of 6 months of rapidly progressive dementia, visual disturbance, and akinetic mutism. Diffusion-weighted imaging showed cortical diffusion restrictions in the left temporo-parieto-occipital regions. ¹⁸F-THK5351 PET, but not ¹⁸F-flortaucipir PET showed high uptake in the left temporo-parieto-occipital regions, largely overlapping with the diffusion restricted areas. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis was weakly positive for 14–3-3 protein and pathogenic prion protein was found. The patient showed rapid cognitive decline along with myoclonic seizures and died 13 months after his first visit. A post-mortem study revealed immunoreactivity for PrP^sc, no evidence of neurofibrillary tangles, and abundant astrocytosis which was reactive for MAO-B antibody.

Conclusions

Our findings add pathological evidence that increased THK5351 uptake in sporadic CJD patients might be caused by an off-target binding driven by its high affinity for MAO-B.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12883-019-1434-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.