Reduction of frontal white matter volume in patients with age-related macular degeneration D Prins1, A T Hernowo1, H A Baseler2, T Plank3, A D Gouws4, J M Hooymans1, A B Morland2, M W Greenlee3, F Cornelissen1 |
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1Laboratory for Experimental Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Netherlands |
| Macular degeneration (MD) causes central visual field loss. When field defects occur in both eyes and overlap, parts of the visual pathways are no longer stimulated. Previous reports from our group have shown that this is associated with volumetric changes in the grey and white matter of the visual pathways [Hernowo et al., 2013, Cortex, in press]. Here investigate whether MD is also associated with volumetric changes outside the visual pathways. In this multicentre study, we included 113 subjects: 58 subjects with MD – juvenile MD (JMD) as well as age-related MD (AMD) – and 55 healthy controls. We used high-resolution anatomical magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry to investigate whether there were any volumetric changes in grey and white matter between patients and controls. In addition to grey and white matter reductions in the visual pathway, AMD patients (but not JMD patients) showed volumetric changes beyond the visual pathways. Particularly the frontal white matter volume is decreased in AMD patients. Our results implicate that loss of retinal sensitivity in AMD is associated with degeneration of white matter in the frontal lobe. This reduction in frontal white matter volume – only present in the AMD patients – may constitute a neural correlate of a previously reported association between AMD and mild cognitive impairment. |
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