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. 2024 Aug 1;45(11):e26798.
doi: 10.1002/hbm.26798.

Texture-based morphometry in relation to apolipoprotein ε4 genotype, ageing and sex in a midlife population

Affiliations

Texture-based morphometry in relation to apolipoprotein ε4 genotype, ageing and sex in a midlife population

Maria-Eleni Dounavi et al. Hum Brain Mapp. .

Abstract

Brain atrophy and cortical thinning are typically observed in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and, to a lesser extent, in those with mild cognitive impairment. In asymptomatic middle-aged apolipoprotein ε4 (ΑPOE4) carriers, who are at higher risk of future AD, study reports are discordant with limited evidence of brain structural differences between carriers and non-carriers of the ε4 allele. Alternative imaging markers with higher sensitivity at the presymptomatic stage, ideally quantified using typically acquired structural MRI scans, would thus be of great benefit for the detection of early disease, disease monitoring and subject stratification. In the present cross-sectional study, we investigated textural properties of T1-weighted 3T MRI scans in relation to APOE4 genotype, age and sex. We pooled together data from the PREVENT-Dementia and ALFA studies focused on midlife healthy populations with dementia risk factors (analysable cohort: 1585 participants; mean age 56.2 ± 7.4 years). Voxel-based and texture (examined features: contrast, entropy, energy, homogeneity) based morphometry was used to identify areas of volumetric and textural differences between APOE4 carriers and non-carriers. Textural maps were generated and were subsequently harmonised using voxel-wise COMBAT. For all analyses, APOE4, sex, age and years of education were used as model predictors. Interactions between APOE4 and age were further examined. There were no group differences in regional brain volume or texture based on APOE4 carriership or when age × APOE4 interactions were examined. Older people tended to have a less homogeneous textural profile in grey and white matter and a more homogeneous profile in the ventricles. A more heterogeneous textural profile was observed for females in areas such as the ventricles, frontal and parietal lobes and for males in the brainstem, cerebellum, precuneus and cingulate. Overall, we have shown the absence of volumetric and textural differences between APOE4 carriers and non-carriers at midlife and have established associations of textural features with ageing and sex.

Keywords: APOE4; Alzheimer's disease; MRI; ageing; dementia risk; morphometry; texture.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Textural map generation in three orthogonal planes. (a) A brain‐extracted bias field corrected scan is shown, depicting all three analysis planes. (b) Three orthogonal planes and three corresponding slices in these planes are shown. (c) The generated contrast maps are shown (three planes). (d) The local voxel neighbourhood on which the analysis is run involves the 18 direct neighbours of a voxel. (e) Generation of GLCM matrices and calculation of the respective textural features in three planes. (f) Calculation of the average between the three planes which ends up being the textural value of the central voxel. (g) A single axial slice for generated textural maps for the four examined textural features.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Voxel‐wise textural associations with age and sex. Mean textural maps are shown for all calculated textural features. In the second column, associations with ageing are shown. Green is used to indicate regions where ageing was associated with higher textural values, whereas blue for regions where the association was negative. Scatterplots are shown with a red line used to indicate linear fitting. In the last column, associations with sex are shown. Orange/red is used to indicate regions where females had significantly higher textural values compared to males and blue is used to indicate regions where males had higher values compared to females.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Voxel‐wise differences in texture without COMBAT harmonisation. (a) Voxels where ALFA participants had higher contrast, (b) voxels where ALFA participants had lower contrast.

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