AUTHOR=Qin Qi , Fu Liping , Wang Ruimin , Lyu Jihui , Ma Huixuan , Zhan Minmin , Zhou Aihong , Wang Fen , Zuo Xiumei , Wei Cuibai 

TITLE=Prominent Striatum Amyloid Retention in Early-Onset Familial Alzheimer's Disease With PSEN1 Mutations: A Pilot PET/MR Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.732159

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2021.732159

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=Background: With the advancements of amyloid imaging in recent years, this new imaging diagnostic method has aroused great interest from researchers. Till now, little is known regarding amyloid deposition specialty in early onset familial AD (EOFAD) patients, and even less is known about its role in cognitive impairments.
Objectives: Our study aimed to evaluate the amyloid deposition in 5 EOFAD patients, 15 late onset sporadic AD patients, and 12 healthy subjects utilizing 11C-labeled Pittsburgh Compound-B (11C-PiB) amyloid PET imaging. Moreover, we figured out the correlation between striatal and cortical standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR). We also investigated the correlation between 11C-PiB retention and cognitive presentation. 
Results: All EOFAD patients showed high amyloid deposition in the striatum, a pattern that is not usually seen in late onset sporadic AD patients. The SUVR in the striatum, especially in the amygdala, showed significant correlations with cortex SUVR in EOFAD. However, neither striatal nor cortical 11C-PiB retention was related to cognitive decline. 
Conclusions: The amyloid distribution in EOFAD patients differs from late onset sporadic AD, with higher amyloid deposits in the striatum. Our study also demonstrated positive correlations in 11C-PiB retention between the striatum and other cortical areas. We revealed that the distribution of amyloid in the brain is not random but diffuses following the functional and anatomical connections. However, the degree and pattern of amyloid deposition were not correlated with cognitive deficits.