Review article Magnetization transfer MRI in dementia disorders, Huntington's disease and parkinsonism Nicola Tambasco a, ⁎, Pasquale Nigro a , Michele Romoli a , Simone Simoni a , Lucilla Parnetti a , Paolo Calabresi a,b a Clinica Neurologica, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Perugia, Perugia, Italy b IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 3 January 2015 Received in revised form 21 February 2015 Accepted 16 March 2015 Available online 28 March 2015 Keywords: MRI Magnetic resonance imaging Magnetization transfer Dementia Parkinson's disease Huntington's disease Magnetic resonance imaging is the most used technique of neuroimaging. Using recent advances in magnetic res- onance application it is possible to investigate several changes in neurodegenerative disease. Among different techniques, magnetization-transfer imaging (MTI), a magnetic resonance acquisition protocol assessing the mag- netization exchange between protons bound to water and those bound to macromolecules, is able to identify mi- crostructural brain tissue changes peculiar of neurodegenerative diseases. This review provides a report on the MTI technique and its use in the dementia disorders, Huntington's disease and parkinsonisms, comprehensive of the predictive values of MTI in the identification of early-phase disease. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Materials & methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.1. Search strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. MTI technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4. MTI changes in normal aging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5. Cognitive decline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5.1. Relationship with cognitive performances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5.2. Alzheimer's disease and other dementias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5.3. Prediction of MCI conversion to AD, and AD progression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.4. Differential diagnosis among dementias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.5. Amyloid pathology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6. Huntingt`on's disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. Parkinsonisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7.1. Parkinson's disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7.2. Multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Journal of the Neurological Sciences 353 (2015) 1–8 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Clinica Neurologica, Azienda Ospedaliera, Università di Perugia, Loc. S.Andrea delle Fratte, 06156 Perugia, Italy. Tel.: +39 075 5783830; fax: +39 075 5784229. E-mail address: n.tambasco@libero.it (N. Tambasco). 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2015.03.025 0022-510X/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of the Neurological Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jns