Meeting Banner
Abstract #2852

Hemispheric Asymmetry of Hippocampus Perfusion and Its Response to Physostigmine Challenge in a Nationally Representative Sample of Gulf War Veterans

Xiufeng Li1, 2, Jeffrey S. Spence3, 4, David M. Buhner4, Robert W. Haley4, Richard W. Briggs, 45

1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 2Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX , United States; 3Clinical Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 4Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 5Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States


In previous ASL studies of Gulf War veterans from a Seabees battalion, the three major Haley syndrome groups of ill veterans had different patterns of laterality in hippocampus perfusion and in physostigmine-induced changes in hippocampus CBF, while healthy control veterans were absent laterality effects in hippocampus perfusion. This is now corroborated in a larger sample of veterans representative of all U.S. military personnel from the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The observed laterality of hippocampus perfusion at baseline and subsequent to cholinergic challenge with physostigmine and the differences in this laterality among ill syndrome groups may imply distinct pathological mechanisms of neurotoxic damage.

Keywords