Zamroziewicz Marta K, Paul Erick J, Rubin Rachael D, Barbey Aron K
Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA ; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA ; Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois Champaign, IL, USA.
Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA ; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2015 May 21;7:87. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00087. eCollection 2015.
Although diet has a substantial influence on the aging brain, the relationship between biomarkers of diet and aspects of brain health remains unclear. This study examines the neural mechanisms that mediate the relationship between omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (O3PUFAs) and executive functions in at-risk (APOE e4 carriers), cognitively intact older adults. We hypothesized that higher levels of O3PUFAs are associated with better performance in a particular component of the executive functions, namely cognitive flexibility, and that this relationship is mediated by gray matter volume of a specific region thought to be important for cognitive flexibility, the anterior cingulate cortex.
We examined 40 cognitively intact adults between the ages of 65 and 75 with the APOE e4 polymorphism to investigate the relationship between biomarkers of O3PUFAs, tests of cognitive flexibility (measured by the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making Test), and gray matter volume within regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC).
A mediation analysis revealed that gray matter volume within the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex partially mediates the relationship between O3PUFA biomarkers and cognitive flexibility.
These results suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex acts as a mediator of the relationship between O3PUFAs and cognitive flexibility in cognitively intact adults thought to be at risk for cognitive decline. Through their link to executive functions and neuronal measures of PFC volume, O3PUFAs show potential as a nutritional therapy to prevent dysfunction in the aging brain.
尽管饮食对大脑衰老有重大影响，但饮食生物标志物与大脑健康各方面之间的关系仍不明确。本研究探讨了在有风险的（载脂蛋白E4携带者）、认知功能完好的老年人中，介导ω-3多不饱和脂肪酸（O3PUFAs）与执行功能之间关系的神经机制。我们假设，较高水平的O3PUFAs与执行功能的一个特定组成部分，即认知灵活性方面的更好表现相关，并且这种关系是由一个被认为对认知灵活性很重要的特定区域，即前扣带回皮质的灰质体积介导的。
我们对40名年龄在65至75岁之间、具有载脂蛋白E4多态性且认知功能完好的成年人进行了研究，以调查O3PUFAs生物标志物、认知灵活性测试（通过德利斯科-卡普兰执行功能系统连线测验测量）以及前额叶皮质（PFC）区域内的灰质体积之间的关系。
中介分析显示，左侧喙状前扣带回皮质内的灰质体积部分介导了O3PUFA生物标志物与认知灵活性之间的关系。
这些结果表明，前扣带回皮质在被认为有认知衰退风险的认知功能完好的成年人中，充当了O3PUFAs与认知灵活性之间关系的中介。通过它们与执行功能和PFC体积的神经元测量值的联系，O3PUFAs显示出作为预防衰老大脑功能障碍的营养疗法的潜力。
