A human brain tau PET template in MNI space for the voxel-wise analysis of Alzheimer's disease

Xi Sun; Shengxiang Liang; Liping Fu; Xiaojun Zhang; Ting Feng; Panlong Li; Tianhao Zhang; Luying Wang; Xiaolong Yin; Wei Zhang; Yichao Hu; Hua Liu; Shujun Zhao; Binbin Nie; Baixuan Xu; Baoci Shan

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108438

A human brain tau PET template in MNI space for the voxel-wise analysis of Alzheimer's disease

J Neurosci Methods. 2019 Dec 1:328:108438. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108438. Epub 2019 Sep 19.

Authors

Xi Sun¹, Shengxiang Liang², Liping Fu³, Xiaojun Zhang³, Ting Feng¹, Panlong Li¹, Tianhao Zhang⁴, Luying Wang¹, Xiaolong Yin¹, Wei Zhang⁴, Yichao Hu⁵, Hua Liu⁶, Shujun Zhao⁷, Binbin Nie⁸, Baixuan Xu⁹, Baoci Shan⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Physical Science and Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Rehabilitation Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, China.
³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁵ Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; College of Information Engineering, Xiangtan University, Hunan 411105, China.
⁶ Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
⁷ College of Physical Science and Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: zhaosj@zzu.edu.cn.
⁸ Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: niebb@ihep.ac.cn.
⁹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: xubx301@163.com.

PMID: 31542346
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108438

Abstract

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging techniques of tau retention in the human brain are important for mechanistic studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the method for effectively conducting voxel-wise analysis on tau PET images still needs to be improved. In the present study, we introduced a tau PET template for the human brain in Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space for the convenient and reliable voxel-wise analysis of tau PET images in AD studies.

New method: Twenty-four AD patients and 22 controls were used to construct the tau PET template, and an additional 22 subjects (11 AD patients and 11 controls) were enrolled to evaluate the performance of the template. Thirty regions (28 cortical and 2 subcortical regions) throughout the brain were used to evaluate the accuracy of the tau PET template.

Results: A significant relationship (R² = 0.848, P < 0.001) was found between the standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) obtained by the tau PET template and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-aided approach, and the paired-sample t-test showed no significant difference (P = 0.62) between the values. These two approaches revealed consistent brain regions with high tau retention.

Comparison with existing methods: The tau PET template was comparable with the traditional MRI-aided strategy. Furthermore, compared to the MRI-aided approach, the tau PET template was more convenient and easier to use. More importantly, in most clinical settings, AD patients who underwent PET/computed tomography (CT) typically do not have MR images, in which case the traditional MRI-aided approach would not be applicable. Our tau PET template overcame this deficiency and may serve as a useful tool in AD research.

Conclusions: This tau PET template performed well and may serve as a useful tool in future AD studies.

Keywords: Human brain; SPM; Tau PET template; Voxel-wise analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging*
Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Middle Aged
Neuroimaging / methods*
Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
tau Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

tau Proteins