The correlation of diffusional kurtosis imaging parameters with cognitive function and cytokine secretion in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Objective To detect the diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) parameters of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and evaluate the inner link of DKI parameters with cognitive function and serum nerve injury index. Methods 78 patients who were first diagnosed with AD in our hospital between December 2015 and January 2018 were enrolled in AD group, and 50 healthy volunteers who had physical examination in our hospital during the same period were enrolled in normal control group. The corpus callosum DKI parameters [mean kurtosis (MK), axial kurtosis (AK) and radial kurtosis (RK)] values, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score as well as serum nerve damage indexes [β amyloid 1-42 (Aβ1-422), S100B protein (S100B) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)] were compared between the two groups of subjects. Pearson test was used to evaluate the correlation of DKI parameters with MMSE score as well as serum nerve injury index in patients with AD. Results MK, AK and RK levels in AD group were lower than those in normal control group; MMSE score was lower than that of normal control group; serum Aβ1-42 and S100B contents were higher than those of normal control group while BDNF content was lower than that of normal control group (P<0.05). Correlation analysis revealed that the MK, AK and RK values in AD patients were directly correlated with the MMSE score as well as Aβ1-42, S100B and BDNF levels (P<0.05). Conclusions The corpus callosum DKI parameter levels decrease in AD patients, and the specific levels are closely related to the severity of cognitive function and nerve injury, which may be one of the effective methods for early assessment of AD condition. Key words: Alzheimer disease; Corpus callosum; Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging; Cognition; Cytokines