Casaletto Kaitlin B, Ward Michael E, Baker Nicholas S, Bettcher Brianne M, Gelfand Jeffrey M, Li Yaqiao, Chen Robert, Dutt Shubir, Miller Bruce, Kramer Joel H, Green Ari J
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Neurobiol Aging. 2017 Mar;51:141-147. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.12.011. Epub 2016 Dec 21.
Given the converging pathologic and epidemiologic data indicating a relationship between retinal integrity and neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), we aimed to determine if retinal structure correlates with medial temporal lobe (MTL) structure and function in neurologically normal older adults. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, verbal and visual memory testing, and 3T-magnetic resonance imaging of the brain were performed in 79 neurologically normal adults enrolled in a healthy aging cohort study. Retinal nerve fiber thinning and reduced total macular and macular ganglion cell volumes were each associated with smaller MTL volumes (ps < 0.04). Notably, these markers of retinal structure were not associated with primary motor cortex or basal ganglia volumes (regions relatively unaffected in AD) (ps > 0.70), or frontal, precuneus, or temporoparietal volumes (regions affected in later AD Braak staging ps > 0.20). Retinal structure was not significantly associated with verbal or visual memory consolidation performances (ps > 0.14). Retinal structure was associated with MTL volumes, but not memory performances, in otherwise neurologically normal older adults. Given that MTL atrophy is a neuropathological hallmark of AD, retinal integrity may be an early marker of ongoing AD-related brain health.
鉴于越来越多的病理学和流行病学数据表明视网膜完整性与神经退行性疾病（包括阿尔茨海默病（AD））之间存在关联，我们旨在确定在神经功能正常的老年人中，视网膜结构是否与内侧颞叶（MTL）的结构和功能相关。对79名参与健康老龄化队列研究的神经功能正常的成年人进行了光谱域光学相干断层扫描、言语和视觉记忆测试以及脑部3T磁共振成像。视网膜神经纤维变薄以及黄斑和黄斑神经节细胞总体积减少均与MTL体积较小有关（p值<0.04）。值得注意的是，这些视网膜结构标志物与初级运动皮层或基底神经节体积（在AD中相对未受影响的区域）无关（p值>0.70），也与额叶、楔前叶或颞顶叶体积（在AD Braak分期后期受影响的区域，p值>0.20）无关。视网膜结构与言语或视觉记忆巩固表现无显著关联（p值>0.14）。在其他方面神经功能正常的老年人中，视网膜结构与MTL体积相关，但与记忆表现无关。鉴于MTL萎缩是AD的神经病理学标志之一，视网膜完整性可能是正在发生的与AD相关的脑健康的早期标志物。
