Volume reduction of the entorhinal cortex in subjective memory impairment

Jessen, Frank; Feyen, Ludger; Freymann, Katrin; Tepest, Ralf; Maier, Wolfgang; Heun, Reinhard; Schild, Hans-H.; Scheef, Lukas

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.10.010

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Volume 27, Issue 12 , Pages 1751-1756, December 2006

Volume reduction of the entorhinal cortex in subjective memory impairment

Frank Jessen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany
- Corresponding author at: Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany. Tel.: +49 228 287 1109; fax: +49 228 287 6097.
Ludger Feyen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany
Katrin Freymann
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany
Ralf Tepest
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany
Wolfgang Maier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany
Reinhard Heun
- Division of Neuroscience, University of Birmingham, UK
Hans-H. Schild
- Department of Radiology, University of Bonn, Germany
Lukas Scheef
- Department of Radiology, University of Bonn, Germany

Received 10 May 2005; received in revised form 17 October 2005; accepted 19 October 2005. published online 25 November 2005.

Abstract

To examine the biological basis of subjective memory impairment (SMI), defined as the feeling of memory worsening with normal memory performance, we measured the volume of the entorhinal cortex (EC) and the hippocampus in SMI subjects, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy controls (CO). Compared with controls, the EC was smaller in the SMI group (left: p=0.060; right: p=0.045) and in the other two groups in the following order: CO>SMI>MCI>AD. The same sequence was observed with regard to hippocampal volumes, but the volume reduction of the left hippocampus in the SMI group only reached a trend towards significance (p=0.072) and the right was not significantly smaller compared with controls (p=0.37). Compared with controls the average (left/right) volume reduction of the EC was 18% (SMI), 26% (MCI) and 44% (AD). The mean volume reduction of the hippocampus was 6% (SMI), 16% (MCI) and 19% (AD). Our results mirror the temporal sequence of neurodegeneration in AD and support the concept of SMI as the first clinical manifestation of dementia.