Primary involvement of the motor area in association with the nigrostriatal pathway in multiple system atrophy: neuropathological and morphometric evaluations

Cognitive impairments associated with morphological changes in cortical and subcortical structures in multiple system atrophy of the cerebellar type

“…A few previous voxelbased morphometry studies also showed atrophic changes in subcortical structures, such as the caudate nucleus, putamen and thalamus [7,8,15]. Atrophic changes of the amygdala of MSA-C patients in the current study have not been previously explored, but postmortem studies have confirmed the depositions of neuronal and glial cytoplasmic inclusions and severe gliosis with pallor of the myelin in hippocampal for- mations and the amygdala in MSA-C patients [14,16,17]. In our ROI-based analysis, reduction of cerebellar volume was not correlated with cortical atrophy in MSA-C patients, which was comparable to results from the previous vertex-based morphometric analysis [11].…”

Voxel‐Based Morphometry and Voxel‐Based Relaxometry in Parkinsonian Variant of Multiple System Atrophy

“…Neuropathological studies in MSA-P patients have shown GCIs and NCIs in the frontal cortex and the motor/premotor areas, with loss of small to medium-sized pyramidal neurons, astrocytosis, and decreased thickness of the motor cortical layers V and VI. 27 Brenneis et al, in an earlier VBM morphometric study evaluating a group of MSA-P patients with a mean disease duration of 2.8 ± 1.1 years, found cortical atrophy affecting sensorimotor areas and prefrontal and insular cortices. 21 In a longitudinal VBM study of MSA-P patients with longer disease duration (3.4 ± 1.9 years), additional areas of atrophy were observed in the middle frontal gyrus, the orbitofrontal, the parietal cortices, and the hippocampus.…”

Cellular pathology in multiple system atrophy

“…32,64,65 The primary motor cortex and anterior horn of the spinal cord are also involved in MSA. [66][67][68][69] Neuronal depletion also has been reported in some nuclei of the medulla oblongata. [70][71][72] The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is also affected in MSA.…”