The Role of Subfields of the Hippocampal Formation in Certain Types of Memory Disorders in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: research in the field of neurobiology of memory allows us to expand the knowledge of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of information storage. A small composite structure located in the medial temporal lobes, the hippocampal formation (HF), plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Currently, the role of specific departments of the HF in various types of memory disorders is poorly understood. The aim was to study the relationships between changes in the volume of HF subfields, regional lateralization of the atrophic process with various types of memory disorders in patients with the most common types of mild cognitive impairment (MCI): amnestic (aMCI) and subcortical vascular (svMCI). Patients, Control Group and Methods: the study included 60 patients with MCI syndromes who were examined on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “V.M. Bekhterev National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Neurology” Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation: 30 patients were with the aMCI (mean age 71.67 ± 6.93) and 30 patients were with the svMCI (mean age 75.67 ± 5.29). The control group consisted of 30 conditionally healthy volunteers (mean age 71.50 ± 5.43) without neurological and psychopathological symptoms, as well as without gross organic changes during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) was used to evaluate the indicators of various types of memory. The scan was performed on Excelart Vantage Atlas XGV MR scanner (Toshiba, Japan) with 1.5 Tesla magnetic field induction. Postprocessing was performed using the FreeSurfer 6.0 software to obtain the volumes of the HF subfields. Results: indicators of visual memory impairment in patients with aMCI were associated with a decrease in the volumes of the CA1 and molecular layer of the right HF. Indicators of impaired verbal associative memory in patients with svMCI correlated with a decrease in the volumes of the subiculum and molecular layer of the left HF. Conclusions: the study showed that the features of atrophy of the subfields of the hippocampal formation play a unique role in impaired various types of memory in patients with predementia state. The obtained results show the prospects for further research in this area to determine the patterns of HF atrophy in various neurodegenerative diseases and chronic cerebral ischemia.

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