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A mechanism of rapidly reversible cerebral ventricular enlargement independent of tissue atrophy.

ABSTRACT: Ventricular enlargement, a common in vivo marker of aging, disease, and insult, is presumed to reflect atrophy of surrounding brain regions. Pathological mechanisms underlying ventricular enlargement, however, are likely specific to the condition under investigation. Here, multimodal imaging, incorporating structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MR spectroscopy (MRS), and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), was used in rats exposed to binge ethanol (EtOH) to provide insight into a mechanism of reversible ventricular enlargement. During intoxication, MRI revealed expansion of ventricles, but volume changes in dorsal or ventral hippocampi, caudate-putamen, or thalamus were not detectible. MRS of whole-brain parenchyma showed decreases in N-acetylasparate (NAA) and tissue water T2, and increases in choline-containing compounds (Cho). DWI showed decreased diffusivity selective to the thalamus. All MR parameters returned to baseline with 7 days of recovery. Rapid recovery of ventricular volume and the absence of detectable tissue volume reductions in brain regions adjacent to ventricles argue against atrophy as a mechanism of ventricular expansion. Decreased tissue water T2 and decreased thalamic diffusivity suggest lower tissue water content and a role for both NAA and Cho, as osmolytes is proposed. Together, these data support a model of fluid redistribution during acute EtOH intoxication and recovery to account for rapid ventricular volume changes.

SUBMITTER: Zahr NM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3629396 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A mechanism of rapidly reversible cerebral ventricular enlargement independent of tissue atrophy.

Zahr Natalie M NM Mayer Dirk D Rohlfing Torsten T Orduna Juan J Luong Richard R Sullivan Edith V EV Pfefferbaum Adolf A

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 20130110 6

Ventricular enlargement, a common in vivo marker of aging, disease, and insult, is presumed to reflect atrophy of surrounding brain regions. Pathological mechanisms underlying ventricular enlargement, however, are likely specific to the condition under investigation. Here, multimodal imaging, incorporating structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MR spectroscopy (MRS), and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), was used in rats exposed to binge ethanol (EtOH) to provide insight into a mechanism o ...[more]

PMID: 23306181

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Project description:Large cerebral ventricles are a frequent finding in brains of dogs with brachycephalic skull conformation, in comparison with mesaticephalic dogs. It remains unclear whether oversized ventricles represent a normal variant or a pathological condition in brachycephalic dogs. There is a distinct relationship between white matter and grey matter in the cerebrum of all eutherian mammals. The aim of this study was to determine if this physiological proportion between white matter and grey matter of the forebrain still exists in brachycephalic dogs with oversized ventricles. The relative cerebral grey matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid volume in dogs were determined based on magnetic-resonance-imaging datasets using graphical software. In an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using body mass as the covariate, the adjusted means of the brain tissue volumes of two groups of dogs were compared. Group 1 included 37 mesaticephalic dogs of different sizes with no apparent changes in brain morphology, and subjectively normal ventricle size. Group 2 included 35 brachycephalic dogs in which subjectively enlarged cerebral ventricles were noted as an incidental finding in their magnetic-resonance-imaging examination. Whereas no significant different adjusted means of the grey matter could be determined, the group of brachycephalic dogs had significantly larger adjusted means of lateral cerebral ventricles and significantly less adjusted means of relative white matter volume. This indicates that brachycephalic dogs with subjective ventriculomegaly have less white matter, as expected based on their body weight and cerebral volume. Our study suggests that ventriculomegaly in brachycephalic dogs is not a normal variant of ventricular volume. Based on the changes in the relative proportion of WM and CSF volume, and the unchanged GM proportions in dogs with ventriculomegaly, we rather suggest that distension of the lateral ventricles might be the underlying cause of pressure related periventricular loss of white matter tissue, as occurs in internal hydrocephalus.

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A mechanism of rapidly reversible cerebral ventricular enlargement independent of tissue atrophy.

Publications

A mechanism of rapidly reversible cerebral ventricular enlargement independent of tissue atrophy.

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