Original

Structural and functional changes of the hippocampus in patients with multiple sclerosis and their relationship with memory processes

A.J. Cruz-Gómez, A. Belenguer-Benavides, B. Martínez-Bronchal, M.S. Fittipaldi-Márquez, C. Forn [REV NEUROL 2016;62:6-12] PMID: 26677776 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.6201.2015216 OPEN ACCESS
Volumen 62 | Number 01 | Nº of views of the article 8.983 | Nº of PDF downloads 1.069 | Article publication date 01/01/2016
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ABSTRACT Artículo en español English version
INTRODUCTION One of the most prevalent cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients relates to (both verbal and visual) information encoding, a process related the hippocampus.

AIM To assess the relationship between information learning and long-term retention processes and hippocampal volume and functional connectivity (FC) in MS patients.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS MS patients and a control group of healthy volunteers were assessed using the brief neuro­psychological battery, which includes tests of verbal and visual memory. Gray matter volume was assessed through the voxel based morphometry technique, and a study of seed-based FC focused on the region of ??interest (hippocampus) was also conducted.

RESULTS Results revealed that, as compared to the control group, MS patients display gray matter atrophy at the left hippocampus gray matter and smaller FC between left hippocampus and brainstem, cerebellum, fusiform gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. Association analyses were performed between memory tests performance and both volumetric and FC changes. Results showed a positive correlation between gray matter hippocampal (bilateral) volume and verbal memory performance of the MS group. Further, in MS patients, a positive correlation between visual memory performance and FC between the left hippocampus and several temporal regions was also found.

CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study reveal a relationship between structural and functional changes in the hippocampus of MS patients and their performance on verbal and visual memory tests.
KeywordsFunctional connectivityGray matterHippocampusMemoryMultiple sclerosisVolumetry CategoriesEsclerosis múltiple
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