Abstract Details

Due to the reported involvement of perivenous glymphatic drainage in neurodegenerative diseases, pathological changes of cerebral venules have attracted considerable interest, whereas direct evidence from human studies is scarce with inconsistent results. Research is in need to reveal the rich patterns of brain structural alternations related to DMVs’ disruption.

To investigate the association of cerebral deep medullary veins (DMVs) number with white matter microstructural integrity and regional brain atrophy in magnetic resonance images.

his is a Cross-sectional analysis in the prospective population-based Shunyi cohort study. DMVs were identified on susceptibility-weighted imaging. Brain structural measurements including gray matter and hippocampus volumes, as well as diffusion tensor metrics, were evaluated. The associations of the number of DMVs and the above brain structural measurements were analyzed using the linear regression model on both global and voxel scales.

Out of the 1,586 subjects at baseline, 979 participants were included in the final analysis. The mean age (SD) was 55.4 (9.1) years and 34.8% were males. The mean (SD) number of DMVs was 19.0 (1.7). A fewer number of DMVs was related to lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity in multiple voxels on the white matter skeleton, including the internal and external capsule, corona radiata, posterior thalamic radiation, and inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculus (TFCE p < 0.05, adjusted for age and sex). Also, fewer DMVs were significantly related to a lower gray matter fraction and a hippocampal fraction (0.10 and 0.11 per DMV, respectively; SE, 0.03 for both; p<0.001 for both). A significant correlation between DMVs’ reduction and cortical atrophy was observed in the bilateral occipital lobes, temporal lobes, hippocampus, and frontal lobes (p < 0.001, adjusted for age, sex, and total intracranial volume).