Fig. 2.

Between-group differences for patients and healthy controls.

VBM between-group comparisons of patients (n = 85) and controls (n = 62) revealed GM density decreases (upper 3 glass-brain images, red-labeled in 3D-pictures) mainly outside the motor areas, i.e. within the bilateral frontal and temporal lobes. Observed WM density decreases in ALS patients (lower 3 glass-brain images, blue-labeled in 3D-pictures) encompassed major parts of the frontal structures and parietal projections underlying the motoric and somatosensoric cortices and extended throughout the brainstem. (TFCE; FWE corrected p < 0.001; nuisance co-variates: age, gender, total intracranial volume)

Abbreviations: GM: Gray Matter; TFCE: Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement; FWE: Family-Wise Error; VBM: Voxel-Based Morphometry; WM: White Matter.