Measurement of hippocampal subfields and age-related changes with high resolution MRI at 4T

Mueller, S.G.; Stables, L.; Du, A.T.; Schuff, N.; Truran, D.; Cashdollar, N.; Weiner, M.W.

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.03.007

« Previous Next »Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 28, Issue 5 , Pages 719-726, May 2007

Measurement of hippocampal subfields and age-related changes with high resolution MRI at 4T

Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Medical Center, Clement Street 4150, San Francisco, CA 94121, United States

Received 20 October 2005; received in revised form 13 February 2006; accepted 9 March 2006. published online 24 May 2006.

Abstract

Histological studies suggest that hippocampal subfields are differently affected by aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aims of this study were: (1) To test if hippocampal subfields can be identified and marked using anatomical landmarks on high resolution MR images obtained on a 4T magnet. (2) To test if age-specific volume changes of subfields can be detected. Forty-two healthy controls (21–85 years) and three AD subjects (76–86 years) were studied with a high resolution T2 weighted fast spin echo sequence. The entorhinal cortex (ERC), subiculum, CA1, CA2 and CA3/4 and dentate were marked. A significant correlation between age and CA1 (r=−0.51, p=0.0002) which was most pronounced in the seventh decade of life was found in healthy controls. In AD subjects, CA1 and subiculum were smaller than in age-matched controls. These preliminary findings suggest that measurement of hippocampal subfields may be helpful to distinguish between normal aging and AD.

Keywords: Hippocampus, CA1, Entorhinal cortex, Subfield, High resolution imaging