Chiharu Tamagaki

Subtle Disruption of the Middle Cerebellar Peduncles in Patients with Schizophrenia

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to investigate subtle disruption in the middle cerebellar peduncles in patients with schizophrenia. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was measured in 25 patients with schizophrenia and 21 healthy subjects using DTI. The FA of the right and left middle cerebellar peduncles was significantly lower in the schizophrenic patients compared to healthy subjects. FA in the left middle cerebellar peduncles was significantly correlated with the dosage of neuroleptics in patients with schizophrenia. There were no significant differences of mean diffusivity in the right and left middle cerebellar peduncles between patients with schizophrenia and healthy subjects. The findings of the study suggest that antipsychotics may improve the subtle disruption in the middle cerebellar peduncles in patients with schizophrenia.

Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Frontal White Matter in Late-Life Depression: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

This study was conducted to elucidate the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on frontal white matter in late-life depressed patients. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed on 8 late-life depressed patients and 12 healthy age-matched controls. The patients were scanned before and after a course of ECT. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was determined in the frontal and temporal regions and the corpus callosum. A significant white matter FA reduction was found in widespread frontal and temporal brain regions in patients with depression before ECT treatment compared with controls. A significant increase in frontal white matter FA was seen following ECT treatment. A course of bilateral ECT ameliorated white matter integrity in frontal brain regions. This suggests a strong relationship with the antidepressant action of ECT.

Frontal and temporal volume size of grey and white matter in patients with schizophrenia

We previously performed a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parcellation study that showed smaller grey and white matter volumes of the temporal lobes and increased CSF volumes in the frontal and temporal lobe in men with schizophrenia. One question that arose from this earlier study was whether similar structural changes in the brain are found in a large group of schizophrenic patients consisting of both men and women. In the present study, MRI scans were acquired from 94 patients of both genders with schizophrenia and 101 healthy subjects. After the automatic segmentation of grey matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid, the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes were automatically parcellated according to the Talairach atlas. Compared with healthy subjects, schizophrenic patients showed significantly smaller volumes of grey matter in the temporal lobe and white matter in the frontal lobe. Schizophrenic patients had a greater CSF volume in the frontal and temporal lobes. These results suggest that volume reduction in the cerebrum is prominent in the frontal and temporal lobes in both men and women with schizophrenia.

Reduced white matter volume of the caudate nucleus in patients with schizophrenia.

To examine volumetric abnormality, the caudate nucleus was measured in patients with schizophrenia and healthy subjects using magnetic resonance imaging. The absolute and relative volumes of white matter in the caudate nucleus were found to be significantly smaller in patients with schizophrenia compared to those in healthy subjects. There were significant correlations between dosages of neuroleptics during the previous year and absolute gray matter volumes of the caudate nucleus as well as relative white matter volumes in patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that reduced white matter volume of the caudate nucleus may be a factor affecting the abnormal connectivity of the corticostriatal loop, and that neuroleptic medication would be related to white matter alteration in patients with schizophrenia. Our result replicates a previous study reporting that there is a lack of negative correlation between age and caudate nucleus volume. We also suggest that the disease process of schizophrenia might interfere with normal aging.

Inter- and intraoperator reliability of brain tissue measures using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract.Grey matter, white matter and cerebrospinal volume in the human brain were measured using magnetic resonance image analysis software BRAINS. Ten volunteers were scanned in the MR sequence (3D-SPGR; 1.5-mm slice thickness and T2 images; 3mm slice thickness). Two operators obtained ten volume measures of grey matter,white matter and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the intracranial box, frontal box, temporal box, parietal box and occipital box. The same data set of ten scans was segmented and the volumes measured on a second occasion by one operator using the same procedure. The interoperator and intraoperator reliabilities for measures of the three brain tissues were very good, with reliability coefficients (intraclass correlation coefficients) ranging between 0.971 and 0.999. The segmentation and measurement are useful for volumetric studies in the human brain using BRAINS.

Age-related changes of cornu ammonis 1 pyramidal neurons in gerbil transient ischemia

This study reports that postischemic apoptotic cell death of the hippocampal cornu ammonis (CA) 1 neurons is delayed in aged gerbils. Age‐related changes in the process of CA1 neuronal death following transient ischemia was studied. Two groups of Mongolian gerbils were used in this study, which compared adult (4‐month‐old) and aged (24‐month‐old) animals by hematoxylin–eosin stain, in situ nick‐end labeling (TUNEL method) and electron microscopy. In the process of neuronal death, neuronal loss of the aged group was histologically less severe than that of the adult group. TUNEL‐positive cells were found on days 3–5 after ischemia in the adult group, while they were still found on day 7 in the aged group. The apoptotic process of the aged group was delayed compared to the adult group. Furthermore, lipofuscin was ultrastructurally observed inside the apoptotic body 5 days after ischemia in CA1 pyramidal neurons of the aged group. It is likely that colocalization of lysosomal enzyme cathepsin D with lipofuscin might be associated with the age‐related alteration of lysosomal system in the neurons. Altogether these data suggest that age‐related lysosomal changes might affect the apoptotic cascade process in postischernic CA1 neurons.

Successful electroconvulsive treatment of depression associated with a marked reduction in the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia

This report describes improvement of tardive dyskinesia (TD) in a patient who received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression. The patient, an elderly Asian male, was treated for major depression with ECT and showed a rapid improvement of TD that may have been caused by any number of drugs or combination of drugs. We discuss the possibility of improving TD by treating the depression with ECT.

Adrenoleukodystrophy initially presenting with symptoms of dementia

There is growing consensus that dementia caused by white matter alterations is called ‘white matter dementia’. Because the symptoms of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) are associated with diffuse white matter dysfunction, ALD is categorized as white matter dementia. Herein, we describe the case of a 47‐year‐old man affected by ALD whose symptoms first appeared a few years earlier in the form of deteriorating personality and memory disturbances, heralded by neurological symptoms. On neuroimaging, a discrepancy was found between magnetic resonance imaging and single photon emission computed tomography in the early stage of the disease process. We suggest that this discrepancy may be an important finding in the diagnosis of early stage white matter dementia.

Global field power and low resolution electromagnetic tomography solutions in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract Brain electrophysiological characteristics of Alzheimers disease (AD) were investigated by global field power (GFP) and low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). GFP measures the energy of the brain electric field. LORETA computes for the smoothest of all possible source configurations throughout the brain volume by minimizing the total source strengths. The study population included a total of 29 AD patients and 15 age-matched controls. Clinical stages were based on the functional assessment staging (FAST). Mild-AD consists of 18 patients with a diagnosis of moderate cognitive decline (Stage 4). Advanced-AD consists of 11 patients with a diagnosis of severe cognitive decline (Stages 5, 6 and 7). Nineteen-channel eye-closed EEG was recorded using Cz reference and artifact-free 20 s were picked up and recomputed vs. average reference. Mild-AD showed lower power at Beta-2 and Beta-3 bands than control, and remarkably, advanced-AD showed lower power at the higher band of Alpha-1 than control. The t-scores of the current density of mild-AD were more reduced in the right frontal and temporal areas than the control at the beta bands, and of advanced-AD, reduced in low temporal area at alpha bands and reduced in temporal and parietal area at beta bands. This result clearly demonstrates the physiological characteristics of the clinical stages in Alzheimers disease.

Nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity in gerbil hippocampal CA1 region after transient forebrain ischemia

We examined whether or not nitration of tyrosine residues takes place in the gerbil hippocampal CA1 region after transient forebrain ischemia. The nitration of tyrosine residues to produce nitrotyrosine is a footprint of peroxynitrite, a reaction product of nitric oxide (NO) with superoxide. Nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity had been detected in the CA1 region from the early stage in a reperfused brain at 30 min after transient ischemia until DNA fragmentation and neuronal death appeared at 4 days after transient ischemia. In electron microscopy, we detected, prominently, nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity after transient ischemia in the cytoplasm of the CA1 neurons. Therefore, it is considered that the nitration of tyrosine residues by peroxynitrite may be closely related to apoptosis after transient ischemia.