Alzheimer’s disease (AD) produces complicated cortical changes in gray matter (GM) of the human brain. However, alterations in the brain cortex have not been clearly addressed. In our study, a cohort of 236 cases MR data enrolled from the ADNI database was categorized into three groups of normal controls (NCs), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. The GM morphological differences were investigated among the three groups using the magnetic resonance (MR) GM characteristics of gray matter volume (GMV), cortical thickness (CT), cortical surface area (CSA) and local gyrification index (LGI) at the three levels of whole brain, bilateral hemispheres and critical brain regions. Totally, there were six critical brain regions for GMV, 11 for CT, 2 for CSA and 59 for LGI among the three groups for the no-division groups. Also, there were 11 critical brain regions for GMV, 15 for CT, 8 for CSA, 3 for LGI for female sub-groups and 4 critical brain regions for GMV, 11 for CT, 1 for CSA, 3 for LGI for male sub-groups. The four measured cortical characteristics showed reliable capability in the morphological description of GM changes of AD. In conclusion, the cortical characteristics of GMV, CT, CSA and LGI of critical brain regions showed valuable indications for GM changes of AD, and those characteristics could be used as imaging markers for AD prediction.

中文翻译：

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阿尔茨海默病脑皮质变化分析

阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 会在人脑的灰质 (GM) 中产生复杂的皮质变化。然而，大脑皮层的改变尚未得到明确解决。在我们的研究中，从 ADNI 数据库中登记的 236 例 MR 数据队列被分为三组正常对照 (NC)、轻度认知障碍 (MCI) 和 AD。使用三个水平的灰质体积（GMV），皮质厚度（CT），皮质表面积（CSA）和局部回旋指数（LGI）的磁共振（MR）GM特征研究三组之间的GM形态差异整个大脑、双侧半球和关键大脑区域。总共有 6 个 GMV 关键脑区，11 个 CT，2 个 CSA 和 59 个 LGI 在无分割组的三组中。还，GMV有11个关键脑区，CT有15个，CSA有8个，女性亚组有3个LGI，GMV有4个关键脑区，CT有11个，CSA有1个，男性亚组LGI有3个。四个测量的皮质特征在 AD 的 GM 变化的形态学描述中显示出可靠的能力。综上所述，关键脑区 GMV、CT、CSA 和 LGI 的皮层特征对 AD 的 GM 变化具有重要的指示意义，这些特征可以作为 AD 预测的影像学标志物。