(1) Purpose: Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) measurements can be used to sensitively estimate brain morphological alterations and may support clinical diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases (ND). We aimed to establish a normative reference database for a clinical applicable quantitative MR morphologic measurement on neurodegenerative changes in patients; (2) Methods: Healthy subjects (HCs, n = 120) with an evenly distribution between 21 to 70 years and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients (n = 11, mean age = 52.45 ± 6.80 years), as an example of ND patients, underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations under routine diagnostic conditions. Regional cortical thickness (rCTh) in 68 regions of interest (ROIs) and subcortical grey matter volume (SGMV) in 14 ROIs were determined from all subjects by using Computational Anatomy Toolbox. Those derived from HCs were analyzed to determine age-related differences and subsequently used as reference to estimate ALS-related alterations; (3) Results: In HCs, the rCTh (in 49/68 regions) and the SGMV (in 9/14 regions) in elderly subjects were less than those in younger subjects and exhibited negative linear correlations to age (p < 0.0007 for rCTh and p < 0.004 for SGMV). In comparison to age- and sex-matched HCs, the ALS patients revealed significant decreases of rCTh in eight ROIs, majorly located in frontal and temporal lobes; (4) Conclusion: The present study proves an overall grey matter decline with normal ageing as reported previously. The provided reference may be used for detection of grey matter alterations in neurodegenerative diseases that are not apparent in standard MR scans, indicating the potential of using qMRI as an add-on diagnostic tool in a clinical setting.

中文翻译：

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人脑灰色物质变化的临床定量磁共振形态学测量

（1）目的：定量磁共振成像（qMRI）测量可用于灵敏地估计脑部形态变化，并可能支持神经退行性疾病（ND）的临床诊断。我们旨在建立一个规范的参考数据库，用于对患者神经退行性改变的临床适用的定量MR形态学测量。（2）方法：健康受试者（HCs，n = 120），平均分布在21至70岁之间，肌萎缩性侧索硬化症（ALS）患者（n= 11岁，平均年龄= 52.45±6.80岁），以ND患者为例，在常规诊断条件下进行了磁共振成像（MRI）检查。使用计算解剖工具箱，从所有受试者中确定了68个感兴趣区域（ROI）的区域皮质厚度（rCTh）和14个ROI中的皮质下灰质体积（SGMV）。分析了源自HC的那些，以确定与年龄有关的差异，随后用作估计与ALS相关的改变的参考；（3）结果：在HCs中，老年受试者的rCTh（在49/68个区域）和SGMV（9/14个区域）小于年轻受试者，并且与年龄呈负线性相关（rCTh p <0.0007）和pSGMV <0.004）。与年龄和性别匹配的HCs相比，ALS患者的rCTh显着下降，主要出现在额叶和颞叶的8个ROI中。（4）结论：本研究证明，如先前报道的那样，正常衰老会导致总体灰质下降。提供的参考可用于检测神经退行性疾病中灰质的变化，这在标准MR扫描中不明显，表明在临床环境中将qMRI用作附加诊断工具的潜力。