White matter abnormalities predict social gullibility in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
Poster No:
304
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Jayden Lee1, Derek Archer1,2, Ryan Darby1
Institutions:
1Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 2Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center, Nashville, TN
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Derek Archer, PhD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center|Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center
Nashville, TN|Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt University Medical Center|Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center
Nashville, TN|Nashville, TN
Introduction:
Risk for financial exploitation is a devastating but common problem among the elderly, amounting to an approximate loss of $30 billion each year. Older adults with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) are particularly susceptible to falling victim to financial fraud; however, only one other study has examined this social vulnerability in bvFTD (Wong 2017) and the neural substrates for this impairment are still very much unknown. Recent studies have found that measuring white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) (Zhang 2022) may provide sensitive biomarkers for behavioral or cognitive decline even in the absence of volumetric evidence, especially in the preclinical phase. NODDI method specifically has been shown to provide higher sensitivity and greater tissue specificity compared with conventional DTI for identifying white matter abnormalities. The present study examines whether DTI and NODDI metrics for degeneration in white matter tracts are associated with increased gullible behaviors in bvFTD.
Methods:
Multi-shell diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired for 39 bvFTD patients (29 male, age 63.9 ± 9.2 yrs). Diffusion images (resolution: 2mm isotropic, b-values: 0, 1000s/mm2) were collected along 32 diffusion gradient vectors and 1 B0 weighted image. Preprocessing was done using the PreQual pipeline (Cai 2021) and Synb0-DISCO (Schilling 2019) for susceptibility distortion correction. Quality assessment for all subjects' corrected images was confirmed by visual inspection. Social gullibility was measured using the informant-reported Social Vulnerability Scale, previously validated for identifying factors leading to vulnerability to exploitation (Pinsker 2011). White matter microscopic degeneration was assessed using DTI measures of fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity (MD), and radial diffusivity (RD) and NODDI measures of intra-cellular volume fraction, i.e., neurite density index (NDI), orientation dispersion index, and isotropic volume fraction (ISOVF), i.e., extra-cellular free water within several well-established white matter tracts of interest (Archer 2019). Associations between diffusion metrics and gullibility scores were determined using multiple linear regression models controlling for age, sex, and global cognition level via MoCA (Nasreddine 2005). Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05, Family Wise Error corrected.
·Figure 1. Visualization of white matter tracts associated with gullibility in bvFTD.
Results:
DTI and NODDI analysis demonstrated significant negative associations between gullibility and loss of tissue organization in bilateral long-range association and frontostriatal tracts. Lower NDI and increased MD, RD and ISOVF in the caudate-to-superior-frontal tract and lower NDI and increased MD, RD and ISOVF in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) tract were associated with higher gullibility in bvFTD. The combination of the two patterns of disruption of decreased neurite density and increased water diffusivity (MD, RD) and increased extra-cellular free water in the same tract is an indicator of neurodegeneration (Daianu 2016) in these caudate-to-superior-frontal and IFOF tracts.
·Figure 2. The relationship between white matter degeneration and increased gullible behaviors in bvFTD.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that white matter abnormalities in the caudate to superior frontal and IFOF tracts may be predictive of increased gullible behaviors in bvFTD patients, even while controlling for global cognition level. Degeneration in the IFOF and caudate frontostriatal tracts have previously been linked with interpersonal impairment and abnormal behavior (Waller 2017; Hampton 2017). The present findings relating white matter tract integrity with gullibility indicate a neural basis for this symptom in bvFTD. This is one of the first studies to use NODDI metrics in frontotemporal dementia and reveals sensitive markers for neurodegeneration, providing promise for future use of this method to studying social and behavioral impairments.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodegenerative/ Late Life (eg. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s) 1
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Social Neuroscience Other
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Diffusion MRI Modeling and Analysis 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
Diffusion MRI
Keywords:
Degenerative Disease
Tractography
White Matter
WHITE MATTER IMAGING - DTI, HARDI, DSI, ETC
Other - Social Behavior
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Cai LY. (2021) PreQual: An automated pipeline for integrated preprocessing and quality assurance of diffusion weighted MRI images. Magnetic Resonance in Med 86(1):456–470.
Daianu M. (2016) An advanced white matter tract analysis in frontotemporal dementia and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior 10(4):1038–1053.
Hampton WH. (2017) Dissociable frontostriatal white matter connectivity underlies reward and motor impulsivity. NeuroImage 150:336–343.
Nasreddine ZS. (2005) The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A Brief Screening Tool For Mild Cognitive Impairment: MOCA: A BRIEF SCREENING TOOL FOR MCI. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 53(4):695–699.
Pinsker DM. (2011) The Social Vulnerability Scale for Older Adults: An Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect 23(3):246–272.
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