Carotenoids and Health Laboratory, Tufts University, 711 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Age Ageing. 2014 Mar;43(2):271-5. doi: 10.1093/ageing/aft210. Epub 2014 Jan 15.
the xanthophylls lutein (L) and zeaxanthin (Z) exist in relatively high concentration in multiple central nervous tissues (e.g. cortex and neural retina). L + Z in macula (i.e. macular pigment, MP) are thought to serve multiple functions, including protection and improvement of visual performance. Also, L + Z in the macula are related to L + Z in the cortex.
to determine whether macular pigment optical density (MPOD, L + Z in the macula) is related to cognitive function in older adults.
participants were older adults (n = 108, 77.6 ± 2.7 years) sampled from the age-related maculopathy ancillary study of the Health Aging and Body Composition Study (Memphis, TN, USA). Serum carotenoids were measured using high performance liquid chromatography. MPOD was assessed using heterochromatic flicker photometry. Eight cognitive tests designed to evaluate several cognitive domains including memory and processing speed were administered. Partial correlation coefficients were computed to determine whether cognitive measures were related to serum L + Z and MPOD.
MPOD levels were significantly associated with better global cognition, verbal learning and fluency, recall, processing speed and perceptual speed, whereas serum L + Z was significantly related to only verbal fluency.
MPOD is related to cognitive function in older people. Its role as a potential biomarker of cognitive function deserves further study.
叶黄素（L）和玉米黄质（Z）两种类胡萝卜素在多个中枢神经系统组织（如大脑皮层和神经视网膜）中浓度相对较高。黄斑中的 L+Z（即黄斑色素，MP）被认为具有多种功能，包括保护和改善视觉性能。此外，黄斑中的 L+Z 与大脑皮层中的 L+Z 有关。
确定黄斑色素光密度（MPOD，黄斑中的 L+Z）是否与老年人的认知功能有关。
参与者为年龄相关性黄斑病变辅助研究中的老年人（n=108，77.6±2.7 岁），该研究来自健康老龄化和身体成分研究（美国田纳西州孟菲斯）。使用高效液相色谱法测量血清类胡萝卜素。使用异染色体闪烁光度法评估 MPOD。进行了八项认知测试，旨在评估包括记忆和处理速度在内的几个认知领域。计算偏相关系数以确定认知测量与血清 L+Z 和 MPOD 是否相关。
MPOD 水平与更好的整体认知、语言学习和流畅性、记忆力、处理速度和知觉速度显著相关，而血清 L+Z 仅与语言流畅性显著相关。
MPOD 与老年人的认知功能有关。其作为认知功能潜在生物标志物的作用值得进一步研究。
