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Regional age-related changes of neuromelanin and iron in the substantia nigra based on neuromelanin accumulation and iron deposition

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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate age-related neuromelanin signal variation and iron content changes in the subregions of substantia nigra (SN) using magnetization transfer contrast neuromelanin-sensitive multi-echo fast field echo sequence in a normal population.

Methods

In this prospective study, 115 healthy volunteers between 20 and 86 years of age were recruited and scanned using 3.0-T MRI. We manually delineated neuromelanin accumulation and iron deposition regions in neuromelanin image and quantitative susceptibility mapping, respectively. We calculated the overlap region using the two measurements mentioned above. Partial correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between volume, contrast ratio (CR), susceptibility of three subregions of SN, and age. Curve estimation models were used to find the best regression model.

Results

CR increased with age (r = 0.379, p < 0.001; r = 0.371, p < 0.001), while volume showed an age-related decline (r =  −0.559, p < 0.001; r =  −0.410, p < 0.001) in the neuromelanin accumulation and overlap regions. Cubic polynomial regression analysis found a small increase in neuromelanin accumulation volume with age until 34, followed by a significant decrease until the 80 s (R2 = 0.358, p < 0.001). No significant correlations were found between susceptibility and age in any subregion. No correlation was found between CR and susceptibility in the overlap region.

Conclusions

Our results indicated that CR increased with age, while volume showed an age-related decline in the overlap region. We further found that the neuromelanin accumulation region volume increased until the 30 s and decreased into the 80 s. This study may provide a reference for future neurodegenerative elucidations of substantia nigra.

Key Points

• Our results define the regional changes in neuromelanin and iron in the substantia nigra with age in the normal population, especially in the overlap region.

• The contrast ratio increased with age in the neuromelanin accumulation and overlap regions, and volume showed an age-related decline, while contrast ratio and volume do not affect each other indirectly.

• The contrast ratio of hyperintense neuromelanin in the overlap region was unaffected by iron content.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

CR:

Contrast ratio

FFE:

Fast field echo

FOV:

Field of view

MTC:

Magnetization transfer contrast

NM:

Neuromelanin

NM-MRI:

Neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging

PD:

Parkinson’s disease

QSM:

Quantitative susceptibility mapping

ROI:

Regions of interest

SI:

Signal intensity

SN:

Substantia nigra

SNpc:

Substantia nigra pars compacta

SNr:

Substantia nigra pars reticulata

TE:

Echo time

TR:

Repetition time

XSCP:

Decussation of the superior cerebellar peduncle

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank all the volunteers for their participation and support in the study.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong (grant number: ZR2020QH267), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number: 2022M711987), and the Taishan Scholars Project (grant number: tsqn201812147).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Yufan Chen, Tong Chen & Guangbin Wang

  2. Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China

    Tao Gong, Fei Gao & Guangbin Wang

  3. Department of Radiology, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Cong Sun

  4. Department of Radiology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China

    Aocai Yang

  5. Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Aocai Yang

  6. Philips Healthcare, Shanghai, China

    Weibo Chen

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  1. Yufan Chen
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  3. Cong Sun
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  8. Guangbin Wang
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Correspondence to Guangbin Wang.

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The scientific guarantor of this publication is Guangbin Wang.

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One of the authors (Weibo Chen) is an employee of Philips. The remaining authors declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

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Chen, Y., Gong, T., Sun, C. et al. Regional age-related changes of neuromelanin and iron in the substantia nigra based on neuromelanin accumulation and iron deposition. Eur Radiol 33, 3704–3714 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-09411-8

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