Journal Article

Systematic Review: Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) of Brain Iron Profile in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Loi, Samantha M., Van Rheenen, Tamsyn E., Opazo, Carlos M., Cropley, Vanessa L., Moffat, Bradford A., Desmond, Patricia, Lane, Darius J. R., Pantelis, Christos, Bush, Ashley I., Ravanfar, Parsa, Syeda, Warda T., Velakoulis, Dennis

2021

Overview

Iron has been increasingly implicated in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. In the past decade, development of the new magnetic resonance imaging technique, quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), has enabled for the more comprehensive investigation of iron distribution in the brain. The aim of this systematic review was to provide a synthesis of the findings from existing QSM studies in neurodegenerative diseases. We identified 80 records by searching MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and PsycInfo databases. The disorders investigated in these studies included Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Wilson's disease, Huntington's disease, Friedreich's ataxia, spinocerebellar ataxia, Fabry disease, myotonic dystrophy, pantothenate-kinase-associated neurodegeneration, and mitochondrial membrane protein-associated neurodegeneration. As a general pattern, QSM revealed increased magnetic susceptibility (suggestive of increased iron content) in the brain regions associated with the pathology of each disorder, such as the amygdala and caudate nucleus in Alzheimer's disease, the substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease, motor cortex in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, basal ganglia in Huntington's disease, and cerebellar dentate nucleus in Friedreich's ataxia. Furthermore, the increased magnetic susceptibility correlated with disease duration and severity of clinical features in some disorders. Although the number of studies is still limited in most of the neurodegenerative diseases, the existing evidence suggests that QSM can be a promising tool in the investigation of neurodegeneration.

• Publisher: Frontiers Research Foundation,Frontiers Media S.A
• Subject: Alzheimer's disease / Amygdala / Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis / Apoptosis / Basal ganglia / brain / Brain mapping / Caudate nucleus / Cerebellum / Cortex (motor) / Dentate nucleus / Fabry's disease / Huntingtons disease / Iron / Magnetic fields / Magnetic resonance imaging / Magnetic susceptibility / Magnetism / Membrane proteins / Metabolism / Mitochondria / Movement disorders / Myotonic dystrophy / Neurodegeneration / Neurodegenerative diseases / Neuroimaging / Neuroscience / Parkinson's disease / quantitative susceptibility mapping / Substantia nigra / Susceptibility / Systematic review / Wilson's disease