Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 7 , Pages 1027-1039, July 2008

Age and dementia-associated atrophy predominates in the hippocampal head and amygdala in Parkinson's disease☆

  • Thomas P. Bouchard

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Alberta, 10230, 111th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5R 0B7
    • ,
  • Nikolai Malykhin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    • ,
  • W.R. Wayne Martin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Alberta, 10230, 111th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5R 0B7
    • ,
  • Christopher C. Hanstock

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    • ,
  • Derek J. Emery

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    • ,
  • Nancy J. Fisher

      Affiliations

    • Division of Neurosciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    • ,
  • Richard M. Camicioli

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Alberta, 10230, 111th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5R 0B7
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 780 735 8840; fax: +1 780 735 8804.

Received 11 September 2006; received in revised form 29 January 2007; accepted 5 February 2007. published online 19 March 2007.

Abstract 

The hippocampus (HC) and amygdala (AG) decrease in volume with age and in Parkinson's disease (PD) with (PDD) and without dementia. We compared 44 PD to 44 age, sex and education-matched subjects without PD (non-PD) and 13 PDD subjects. T1-weighted MR images were used to manually segment the head, body and tail of the HC and the AG. HC volumes, corrected to intracranial volume, were smaller in PDD than non-PD (p=0.04), reflected predominantly by head atrophy. Right AG volumes were smaller in PD compared to non-PD (p=0.03). HC volumes in older (>70), but not younger, non-demented PD differed from non-PD (HC, p=0.02; head, p=0.03). Age correlated negatively with overall HC (r=−0.43, p=0.004) and head (r=−0.48, p=0.001) in PD, but not in non-PD. In PD, left HC head volumes correlated with recall, but not recognition scores on the CVLT-II (r=0.35, p=0.02) and BVMT-R (r=0.35, p=0.02); AG volumes correlated with CVLT-II recall (r=0.35, p=0.02). No correlations were found in non-PD (p>0.4). In conclusion, functionally meaningful age-associated hippocampal and amygdala atrophy occurs in PD.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Dementia, Volumetric MRI, Hippocampus, Amygdala, Medial temporal lobe, Atrophy, Memory, Aging

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☆ The authors have no competing interests. The study was approved by the University of Alberta's Health Ethics review board, and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

PII: S0197-4580(07)00042-5

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2007.02.002

Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 7 , Pages 1027-1039, July 2008

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