a Department of Psychology , University of Toronto , Toronto , Canada.
Cogn Neurosci. 2013;4(3-4):152-62. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2013.853658.
Improving the ability to detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) at the earliest stages is essential to effectively treat afflicted individuals. Electrophysiological signatures are a promising avenue for earlier diagnosis. In the present study, we investigated an ERP component associated with visual working memory capacity, the contralateral delay activity (CDA). Our participants were undiagnosed and supposedly healthy members of the community, but were defined to be at-risk for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) based on performance from a brief, standardized neuropsychological test. We found that older adults at-risk for MCI had a reduced visual working memory capacity and reduced differentiation of the CDA. In a second experiment, we found that the P300, a well-characterized ERP component shown to be useful in determining conversion from MCI to AD, showed reduced amplitude in our at-risk group. Together, these findings suggest that electrophysiological signatures may be especially sensitive markers of the very earliest stages of AD.
提高在疾病早期阶段检测阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 的能力对于有效治疗患者至关重要。电生理特征是早期诊断的一个很有前途的途径。在本研究中，我们研究了与视觉工作记忆容量相关的 ERP 成分，即对侧延迟活动 (CDA)。我们的参与者是社区中未被诊断且被认为健康的成员，但根据简短的标准化神经心理学测试的表现，他们被定义为有轻度认知障碍 (MCI) 的风险。我们发现，有 MCI 风险的老年人的视觉工作记忆容量降低，且 CDA 的分化降低。在第二项实验中，我们发现 P300 是一种特征明确的 ERP 成分，已被证明在确定从 MCI 到 AD 的转化方面很有用，在我们的高危组中，其振幅降低。总的来说，这些发现表明，电生理特征可能是 AD 早期阶段的特别敏感的标志物。
