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Distinct patterns of hippocampal subfield volume loss in left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

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Abstract

Objective

To investigate the pattern and severity of hippocampal subfield volume loss in patients with left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) using quantitative MRI volumetric analysis.

Methods

A total of 21 left and 14 right mTLE subjects, as well as 15 healthy controls, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. A publically available magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain volumetry system (volBrain) was used for volumetric analysis of hippocampal subfields. The T1-weighted images were processed with a HIPS pipeline.

Results

A distinct pattern of hippocampal subfield atrophy was found between left and right mTLE patients when compared with controls. Patients with left mTLE exhibited ipsilateral hippocampal atrophy and segmental volume depletion of the Cornu Ammonis (CA) 2/CA3, CA4/dentate gyrus (DG), and strata radiatum-lacunosum-moleculare (SR-SL-SM). Those with right mTLE exhibited similar ipsilateral hippocampal atrophy but with additional segmental CA1 volume depletion. More extensive bilateral subfield volume loss was apparent with right mTLE patients.

Conclusion

We demonstrate that left and right mTLE patients show a dissimilar pattern of hippocampal subfield atrophy, suggesting the pathophysiology of epileptogenesis in left and right mTLE to be different.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors recognize and are grateful for the contributions of the Iranian National Brain Mapping Laboratory (NBML), Tehran, Iran, for their data acquisition service.

Funding

This work was partially funded and supported by Iran’s National Elites Foundation, National Institute for Medical Research Development, and Cognitive Sciences & Technologies Council, in 2017 to 2019.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Hossein Sanjari Moghaddam and Mohammad Hadi Aarabi contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hossein Sanjari Moghaddam & Mohammad Hadi Aarabi

  2. Isfahan Neuroscience Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Jafar Mehvari-Habibabadi

  3. Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Roya Sharifpour, Neda Mohammadi-Mobarakeh & Mohammad-Reza Nazem-Zadeh

  4. Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Research Center for Science and Technology in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Roya Sharifpour, Neda Mohammadi-Mobarakeh & Mohammad-Reza Nazem-Zadeh

  5. Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Bahram Mohajer

  6. Pars Advanced Medical Research Center, Pars Hospital, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Sohrab Hashemi-Fesharaki

  7. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Spectrum Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA

    Kost Elisevich

Authors
  1. Hossein Sanjari Moghaddam
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Correspondence to Mohammad-Reza Nazem-Zadeh.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tehran University of Medical University.

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Moghaddam, H.S., Aarabi, M.H., Mehvari-Habibabadi, J. et al. Distinct patterns of hippocampal subfield volume loss in left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurol Sci 42, 1411–1421 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04653-6

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