Jager, Merel (2025) Quantifying Reuniens–Hippocampus Tract Integrity in Early Alzheimer’s: A Multimodal Voxel-Based Diffusion MRI Approach. Research Project 2 (major thesis), Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences.
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Abstract
Early detection of disease related changes is crucial for understanding the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The nucleus reuniens (Re) of the thalamus is a key hub in the memory network, yet its structural connectivity remains understudied in human ageing and AD. This study investigated the integrity of the reuniens-hippocampal white matter tract in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) compared to healthy controls, using advanced diffusion MRI tractography and DTI and NODDI modeling techniques. We successfully reconstructed the reuniens-hippocampal tract in all participants and extracted microstructural metrics using both standard voxel-based sampling and a biologically informed SIFT2-weighted approach. While standard analysis showed elevated fractional anisotropy (FA) in aMCI, SIFT2-weighted metrics revealed increased free water fraction (FWF) and orientation dispersion index (ODI), as well as reduced fibre density—a pattern consistent with neuroinflammation and axonal disorganisation. Volume reductions in the Re and hippocampus, along with ventricular enlargement, further supported ongoing neurodegenerative processes. These findings highlight the use of biologically weighted tractography methodology for detecting subtle structural changes and suggest that the reuniens-hippocampal tract may serve as a promising target for early biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Research Project 2 (major thesis)) |
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| Supervisor name: | Lorist, M.M. |
| Degree programme: | Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences |
| Thesis type: | Research Project 2 (major thesis) |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Aug 2025 11:48 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Aug 2025 11:48 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/36818 |
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