Gunstad John, Benitez Andreana, Smith Joseph, Glickman Ellen, Spitznagel Mary B, Alexander Thomas, Juvancic-Heltzel Judi, Murray Leigh
Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2008 Sep;21(3):166-70. doi: 10.1177/0891988708316860. Epub 2008 May 23.
Cognitive decline is common in older adults, even in the absence of significant medical or neurological conditions. Recent work implicates serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in age-related cognitive decline, though no study has directly examined this possibility. A total of 35 older adults without neurological history underwent fasting blood draw and completed a brief neuropsychological test battery during a single session. After adjusting for demographic and medical confounds, higher serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels were associated with better performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (r = .36) and short form of the Boston Naming Test (r = .39). These findings extend work from Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia samples and indicate that higher brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels are associated with better neuropsychological function in healthy older adults. The exact mechanisms for this relationship are unknown and require further examination.
认知能力下降在老年人中很常见，即使在没有重大医学或神经疾病的情况下也是如此。最近的研究表明，血清脑源性神经营养因子水平与年龄相关的认知能力下降有关，尽管尚无研究直接检验这种可能性。共有35名无神经病史的老年人进行了空腹抽血，并在一次检查中完成了一套简短的神经心理测试。在调整了人口统计学和医学混杂因素后，较高的血清脑源性神经营养因子水平与简易精神状态检查表（r = 0.36）和波士顿命名测试简表（r = 0.39）的较好表现相关。这些发现扩展了来自阿尔茨海默病和血管性痴呆样本的研究，并表明较高的脑源性神经营养因子水平与健康老年人较好的神经心理功能相关。这种关系的确切机制尚不清楚，需要进一步研究。
