Diffusion Tensor Imaging of White Matter Change in AD

描述（由申请方提供）：AD患者白色物质变化的扩散张量成像。此职业发展应用程序描述了一个综合的研究和培训期，有两个主要目标：（1）通过应用先进的神经影像技术和补充性神经病理学研究，将候选人培养成为阿尔茨海默病（AD）神经病理学研究的强大和独立的研究人员;（2）确定白色物质（WM）的独特贡献AD中的退化与患者的临床特征相关。候选人热衷于继续AD相关的研究，并为该研究计划增加新的培训。近期培训目标将集中在三个研究领域：（1）应用新型神经影像学数据采集技术研究神经病理学，（2）AD的神经病理学评估和定量神经病理学技术，以及（3）临床研究和多变量数据的高级统计分析程序。本建议书的导师/顾问和Athinoula A的培训环境。马蒂诺斯生物医学成像中心和马萨诸塞州阿尔茨海默病研究中心（MADRC）将确保在这三个领域的一流教学。候选人希望应用先进的成像协议和AD神经病理学的基础，以开发一个强大的研究计划，旨在充分整合这些不同的领域，以更好地了解AD病理生理学。 拟议的研究将整合新的扩散张量成像（DTI）措施的WM微观结构与先进的方法测量灰质的形态学特性，以确定是否WM退化不同的AD相比，正常老化，以及是否WM退化有助于AD病理学的特定方面时，控制灰质退化。患者将通过MADRC招募。成像数据将与认知和临床指标（包括记忆和痴呆严重程度）相关。本研究的具体目标是：目标1。识别AD与正常衰老相比WM退化模式的差异。目标2.明确脑白质变性与灰质变性的关系。目标3。确定WM变性对患者临床特征的独特贡献。因此，拟议的综合培训和研究计划可能会导致新的见解的独特贡献，WM退化的临床后遗症的AD。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diffusion Tensor Imaging of White Matter Change in AD. This Career Development application describes an integrated research and training period with two primary goals: (1) the development of the candidate into a strong and independent researcher in the study of the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) through the application of advanced neuroimaging techniques and complementary neuropathology studies and (2) to determine the unique contribution of white matter (WM) degeneration in AD to the clinical profile of patients. The candidate is enthusiastic to continue AD-related research and to add new training to this research program. Immediate training goals will focus on three domains of study: (1) the application of novel neuroimaging data acquisition techniques to study neuropathology, (2) neuropathological assessment of AD and quantitative neuropathology techniques, and (3) advanced statistical analysis procedures for clinical research and multivariate data. The Mentors/Advisors on this proposal and the training environment of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (MADRC) will assure superb instruction in the three fields. The candidate expects to apply the foundation in advanced imaging protocols and neuropathology of AD to develop a strong research program aimed at fully integrating these disparate domains to better understand AD pathophysioiogy. The proposed research will integrate novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of WM microstructure with advanced methods for measuring morphological properties of gray matter to determine whether WM degeneration differs in AD compared to normal aging, and whether WM degeneration contributes to specific aspects of AD symptomology when controlling for gray matter degeneration. Patients will be recruited through the MADRC. Imaging data will be related to cognitive and clinical measures (including memory and dementia severity). The Specific Aims of this research are to: Aim 1. Identify differences in the patterns of WM degeneration in AD compared to normal aging. Aim 2. Identify the relation between WM degeneration and gray matter degeneration. Aim 3. Identify the unique contribution of WM degeneration to the patient's clinical profile. Thus, the proposed integrated training and research program could lead to novel insights about the unique contribution of WM degeneration to the clinical sequel of AD.