Figure 2a:

Estimating right primary motor cortex (PMC; RPMC ) motor neuron (MN ) density in all patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by using MR imaging. (a) Examples of layer-5 regions of interest from HuR immunostaining of RPMC, digitized at magnification 20×, from two different patients with ALS. Top: female patient with sporadic ALS with lower limb onset at 64 years old and a 9.9-year disease duration. RPMC mean MN density: 89 neurons per square millimeter in the superior RPMC (left), 86 neurons per square millimeter in the mid RPMC (center), 166 neurons per square millimeter in the inferior RPMC (right). Bottom: female patient with familial ALS (superoxide dismutase 1) with lower limb onset at 49 years old and 2.1-year disease duration. RPMC mean MN density: 269 neurons per square millimeter in the superior RPMC (left), 233 neurons per square millimeter in the mid RPMC (center), 182 neurons per square millimeter in the inferior PMC (right). Scale bars, 0.1 mm. (b) Automated normalized gray matter volume segmentation obtained from SIENAX (FMRIB Software Library) analysis of T1-weighted MR imaging from the same patients as in a. Normalized gray matter volume, 648 317 mm³ (top); normalized gray matter volume, 825 076 mm³ (bottom). (c) RPMC mean neuronal density in 11 patients with ALS estimated by y = (−238) + (5 · NGMV), where NGMV is normalized gray matter volume yielded by SIENAX divided by 10 000 for ease in visualizing the equation. The dotted line designates perfect prediction. F = patients with familial ALS; MND = MN density; MND_rPMC = MN density in the RPMC.