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Comparative Study
. 2017 Aug 28;12(8):e0184012.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184012. eCollection 2017.

Comparison of cognitive and brain grey matter volume profiles between multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

Hiroki Masuda  1 , Shigeki Hirano  1 , Nobuyoshi Takahashi  2 , Etsuko Hatsugano  3 , Akiyuki Uzawa  1 , Tomohiko Uchida  1 , Ryohei Ohtani  1 , Satoshi Kuwabara  1 , Masahiro Mori  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of cognitive and brain grey matter volume profiles between multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

Hiroki Masuda et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: Brain regions responsible for cognitive dysfunction in MS and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) are not known. Our aim of this study was to investigate whether cognitive function and brain volume differed between MS and NMOSD in Japanese patients.

Methods: Brain MRI and neuropsychological tests including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), Trail Making Test (TMT) and Clinical Assessment for Attention (CAT) were performed. Parametric grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes determined from lesion-filled T1-weighted images using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were compared by two-tailed t test.

Results: Twenty relapsing-remitting MS and sixteen NMOSD patients were included. MS patients were younger than NMOSD patients. Processing speed intelligence quotient (IQ), general memory, verbal memory and delayed recall were significantly worse in MS patients than in NMOSD patients. Furthermore, left superior temporal gyrus (STG) GM volume was smaller in MS patients than in NMOSD patients (P < 0.05, family-wise error [FWE] corrected, Zmax = 4.97, 62 voxel). The left STG GM volume tended to be positively correlated with delayed recall in MS patients.

Conclusions: Despite being younger, MS patients demonstrated worse performance in certain cognitive variables than NMOSD patients, which might be associated with left STG GM volume loss.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Voxel-based morphometry analysis in patients with multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.
Statistical parametric map of differences in grey matter volume between 20 multiple sclerosis and 16 neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder patients (P < 0.05, family-wise error corrected). Regions with smaller grey matter were located in left superior temporal gyrus in multiple sclerosis patients. Data are superimposed on a standard single case T1-weighted image with statistical parametric mapping 8. Cluster is shown with red-yellow colour coding.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Correlations between left superior temporal gyrus (STG) volume and neuropsychological test scores in multiple sclerosis patients.
Correlations were analysed by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Intracranial volume (ICV) was calculated by sum of whole brain grey matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid volumes. Left STG volume was divided by ICV to adjust for the head size of each patient. Results of correlation analyses are shown for (A) left STG volume and verbal memory, (B) left STG volume and delayed recall, (C) left STG volume and general memory and (D) left STG volume and processing speed intelligence quotient (IQ). No statistically significant correlations were found in any of the combinations. However, a trend towards a positive correlation was found between left STG volume and delayed recall.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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