Histologic tau lesions and magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers differ across two progressive supranuclear palsy variants

Progressive supranuclear palsy is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the deposition of four-repeat tau in neuronal and glial lesions in the brainstem, cerebellar, subcortical and cortical brain regions. There are varying clinical presentations of progressive supranuclear palsy with different neuroimaging signatures, presumed to be due to different topographical distributions and burden of tau. The classic Richardson syndrome presentation is considered a subcortical variant, whilst progressive supranuclear palsy with predominant speech and language impairment is considered a cortical variant, although the pathological underpinnings of these variants are unclear. In this case-control study, we aimed to determine whether patterns of regional tau pathology differed between these variants and whether tau burden correlated with neuroimaging. Thirty-three neuropathologically confirmed progressive supranuclear palsy patients with either the Richardson syndrome (n = 17) or speech/language (n = 16) variant and ante-mortem magnetic resonance imaging were included. Tau lesion burden was semi-quantitatively graded in cerebellar, brainstem, subcortical and cortical regions and combined to form neuronal and glial tau scores. Regional magnetic resonance imaging volumes were converted to Z-scores using 33 age- and sex-matched controls. Diffusion tensor imaging metrics, including fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity, were calculated. Tau burden and neuroimaging metrics were compared between groups and correlated using linear regression models. Neuronal and glial tau burden were higher in motor and superior frontal cortices in the speech/language variant. In the subcortical and brainstem regions, only the glial tau burden differed, with a higher burden in globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra and red nucleus in Richardson’s syndrome. No differences were observed in the cerebellar dentate and striatum. Greater volume loss was observed in the motor cortex in the speech/language variant and in the subthalamic nucleus, red nucleus and midbrain in Richardson’s syndrome. Fractional anisotropy was lower in the midbrain and superior cerebellar peduncle in Richardson’s syndrome. Mean diffusivity was greater in the superior frontal cortex in the speech/language variant and midbrain in Richardson’s syndrome. Neuronal tau burden showed associations with volume loss, lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity in the superior frontal cortex, although these findings did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Results suggest that a shift in the distribution of tau, particularly neuronal tau, within the progressive supranuclear palsy network of regions is driving different clinical presentations in progressive supranuclear palsy. The possibility of different disease epicentres in these clinical variants has potential implications for the use of imaging biomarkers in progressive supranuclear palsy.