Volumetry of striatum and pallidum in man--anatomy, cytoarchitecture, connections, MRI and aging.

BACKGROUND: For comparing of the pathological and normal healthy state it is essential to obtain sufficient amount of the volumetric data. Nevertheless most of the publicized works use only few healthy controls opposite to the patients for the measuring of the basal ganglia volume. Further essential condition is to take into account the effect of age to the basal ganglia volume in such analysis.

PURPOSE: The goal of our study was (1) to give the current review of the structure, neurotransmitters, connections and general integration of the basal ganglia in the pathways of the central nervous system, (2) aggregate sufficient amount of volumetric data by virtue of MRI and post-mortem studies, and appoint volumes of the striatum and pallidum, (3) evaluate aging of these structures in adult healthy patients. Another goal was (4) to inspect the correlations between the size of the basal ganglia and volume characteristics of the brain, cranial capacity or frequently measured dimensions within CNS. In the spite of the fact that it is not possible to measure all of these dimensions for clinicians who want to determine if the structure is "normal" or not. Another goal was (5) to find a simple measure, which could serve as the indicator of the real size of structure of the interest.

METHODS: By virtue of the classical anatomical methods and MRI examination we appointed volumes of the striatum (furthermore divided into the complex of the caudatum--nucleus accumbens--CD-Acc and putamen) and pallidum in the sample of 108 healthy adults (18-89 years old). From another measurements we calculated the cranial capacity and volume characteristics of each brain.

RESULTS: In a general view that does not respect changes due to age neither volumetric difference between two sexes nor interhemispheric difference was significant for absolute volumes of the striatum, CD-Acc complex, putamen and pallidum. In the case of the striatum, significant correlation between size and age was found (p < 0.0001) for absolute volumes in both sexes. In men, striatum showed a decrease about 14.3% in volume in the 20-50-year age range (about 4.8% per decade). In woman, the age related shrinkage is about 16.9% (about 5.6% per decade). Dependence on age was not statistically proven for volume of female complex CD-Acc (p = 0.061). Age related decrease of female putamen was about 23.15% in the 20-50 year age range (7.7% per decade). In men, the seizure decrease of the caudate--accumbens complex amounts 16.2%, in the same age range (5.4% per decade). Similarly, volume of the putamen in men decreases up to 12.3% between 20-50 years of age (4.1% per decade). In men, the pallidum showed a decrease about 21.6% in volume in the 20-50-year age range (7.2% per decade). In women, it amounts only 11.5% (3.8% per decade). Plane of the striatum in the level of the commissura anterior showed high correlation with total striatal volume (p < 0.0001, r = 0.668). The percentual portion of striatal volume at the level of the commissura anterior (1 cm thick slice) does not differ statistically between males and females. In our data it gives 28.56% (SD = 3.05). Correlation between the striatal planes and age was significant in both sexes (in women: p = 0.007, r = 0.348, and in men: p = 0.029, r = 0.349) as in the case of the correlation between striatal volume and age.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that age mirror differently on separate structures in the brain. We have found unequal volume decrease within both sexes even particular nuclei. Our findings also suggest that decrease of the basal ganglia volume in the dependence on age is not linear but it is composed from periods without changes and periods with reduction of its size. In the case of the striatum, behaviour of changes looks similar (with only 5 years), while in the case of the pallidum this situation is markedly different. Our observations may suggest intersexual singularity in the aging of brain structures. From one MRI, from one frontal slice in the level of the commissura anterior is possible to reduce total volume of the striatum for every examined individual. Simple graph shows interval, where the normal value of this plain should be in dependency on age and sex of the examined patient. Another graph allows reducing from this plane the total volume of the striatum. These findings can be the quick and reliable aid in better diagnostics of different diseases.