Locus Coeruleus magnetic resonance imaging: a comparison between native-space and template-space approach

• Published in: Journal of Neural Transmission Vol. 129; no. 4; pp. 387 - 394
• Main Authors: Giorgi, F. S., Martini, N., Lombardo, F., Galgani, A., Bastiani, L., Della Latta, D., Hlavata, H., Busceti, C. L., Biagioni, F., Puglisi-Allegra, S., Pavese, N., Fornai, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.04.2022
• Subjects: Aged; Aging; Humans; Locus Coeruleus - diagnostic imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurology; Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Original; Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Original Article; Neurosciences; Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Locus Coeruleus; Aging; Biormarker; Magnetic resonance imaging; Noradrenaline
• ISSN: 0300-9564; 1435-1463
• DOI: 10.1007/s00702-022-02486-5

Locus Coeruleus (LC) is the main noradrenergic nucleus of the brain, which is involved in many physiological functions including cognition; its impairment may be crucial in the neurobiology of a variety of brain diseases. Locus Coeruleus-Magnetic Resonance Imaging (LC-MRI) allows to identify in vivo LC in humans. Thus, a variety of research teams have been using LC-MRI to estimate LC integrity in normal aging and in patients affected by neurodegenerative disorders, where LC integrity my work as a biomarker. A number of variations between LC-MRI studies exist, concerning post-acquisition analysis and whether this had been performed within MRI native space or in ad hoc -built MRI template space. Moreover, the reproducibility and reliability of this tool is still to be explored. Therefore, in the present study, we analyzed a group of neurologically healthy, cognitively intact elderly subjects, using both a native space- and a template space-based LC-MRI analysis. We found a good inter-method agreement, particularly considering the LC Contrast Ratio. The template space-based approach provided a higher spatial resolution, lower operator-dependency, and allowed the analysis of LC topography. Our ad hoc -developed LC template showed LC morphological data that were in line with templates published very recently. Remarkably, present data significantly overlapped with a recently published LC “metaMask”, that had been obtained by averaging the results of a variety of previous LC-MRI studies. Thus, such a template space-based approach may pave the way to a standardized LC-MRI analysis and to be used in future clinic–anatomical correlations.