Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40717725›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2025

Thalamic nuclei volumes are related to disease stage in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Tianrui Wen, Jun Zhu, Sujuan Sun, Yujing Chen, Ninglu Gao, Mingjie Ma, Xinyue Chen, Shuangwu Liu, Pengfei Lin, Yan Deng

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Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Tianrui Wen *School of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Jun Zhu *School of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Sujuan SunSchool of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Yujing ChenSchool of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Ninglu GaoSchool of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Mingjie MaSchool of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Xinyue ChenSchool of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Shuangwu LiuShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mitochondrial Medicine and Rare Diseases, Department of Neurology, Research Institute of Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Pengfei LinShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mitochondrial Medicine and Rare Diseases, Department of Neurology, Research Institute of Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Yan DengDepartment of Radiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: To explore atrophy patterns in thalamic nuclei at different phases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and determine any correlations between thalamic nucleus volume and either cognitive impairments or motor disabilities. Methods: We used the King's clinical staging system for ALS to divide 76 consecutive patients with ALS by disease stage. We investigated patterns of thalamic atrophy in the patients and in 94 healthy controls (HCs). Cognitive functions were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Frontal Assessment Battery, Boston Naming Test, and Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Results: Considering all ALS patients, no significant differences were observed in the volume of any thalamic nuclei between the ALS group and HCs. Thalamic nucleus volumes remained normal in ALS patients at King's Stage 2 and Stage 3. However, atrophy was detected in the bilateral anteroventral nucleus, bilateral pulvinar-limitans, bilateral mediodorsal-paratenial-reuniens, bilateral motor hub, bilateral sensory hub, and bilateral intralaminar nucleus in patients who had reached King's Stage 3. In these patients, the volume of the bilateral motor nuclei was associated with the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale scores, and that of the right pulvinar-limitans independently correlated with MMSE scores. Conclusion: Our study provides a comprehensive profile of thalamic atrophy in ALS patients. The thalamic atrophy patterns in these patients extremely differs at different King's Stages, and we suggest that these alterations might result largely from sequential, regional patterns of TDP-43 pathology in ALS. Furthermore, thalamic atrophy might play important roles in motor disability and global cognitive impairments observed in patients with ALS.

Indexed as

amyotrophic lateral sclerosisbilateral anteroventralbilateral pulvinar-limitansMRIthalamus

Identifiers

PMID40717725
PMCPMC12289602

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