Medial temporal atrophy in early and late-onset Alzheimer's disease

Late-onset and early-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD, EOAD) affect different neural systems and may be separate nosographic entities. The most striking differences are in the medial temporal lobe, severely affected in LOAD and relatively spared in EOAD. We assessed amygdalar morphology and volume in 18 LOAD and 18 EOAD patients and 36 aged-matched controls and explored their relationship with the hippocampal volume. Three-dimensional amygdalar shape was reconstructed with the radial atrophy mapping technique, hippocampal volume was measured using a manual method. Atrophy was greater in LOAD than EOAD: 25% versus 17% in the amygdala and 20% versus 13% in the hippocampus. In the amygdala, LOAD showed significantly greater tissue loss than EOAD in the right dorsal central, lateral, and basolateral nuclei (20%-30% loss, p < 0.03), all known to be connected to limbic regions. In LOAD but not EOAD, greater hippocampal atrophy was associated with amygdalar atrophy in the left dorsal central and medial nuclei (r = 0.6, p < 0.05) also part of the limbic system. These findings support the notion that limbic involvement is a prominent feature of LOAD but not EOAD.