Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;63(2):861-869. doi: 10.3233/JAD-171168.
Cognitive reserve is the acquired capacity reflecting a functional brain adaptability/flexibility in the context of aging. Educational attainment is thought to be among the most important factors that contribute to cognitive reserve.
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships among duration of education and Alzheimer's disease (AD) related neuroimaging biomarkers such as amyloid-β deposition, glucose metabolism, and brain volumes in each stage of AD.
We reanalyzed a part of the datasets of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Participants were between 55 and 90 years of age and diagnosed as one of the following: healthy controls (HC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or AD. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among duration of education and amyloid-β deposition (n = 825), brain metabolism (n = 1,304), and brain volumes (n = 1,606) among three groups using data for 18F-Florbetapir (AV-45) imaging, fludeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography, and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
Duration of education had no correlations with amyloid-β deposition or brain metabolism in any groups. However, duration of education was positively associated with the total brain volume only in participants with MCI.
Our findings suggest that education may exert a protective effect on total brain volume in the MCI stage but not in HC or AD. Thus, education may play an important role in preventing the onset of dementia through brain reserve in MCI.
认知储备是一种后天获得的能力，反映了大脑在衰老背景下的适应能力和灵活性。受教育程度被认为是影响认知储备的最重要因素之一。
本研究旨在探讨受教育年限与阿尔茨海默病（AD）相关神经影像学生物标志物（如β淀粉样蛋白沉积、葡萄糖代谢和脑容量）在 AD 各个阶段之间的关系。
我们重新分析了阿尔茨海默病神经影像学倡议的部分数据集。参与者年龄在 55 至 90 岁之间，被诊断为以下一种情况：健康对照组（HC）、轻度认知障碍（MCI）或 AD。采用 18F-氟比他滨（AV-45）成像、氟脱氧葡萄糖（FDG）正电子发射断层扫描和 T1 加权磁共振成像的数据，对三组参与者的受教育年限与β淀粉样蛋白沉积（n=825）、脑代谢（n=1304）和脑容量（n=1606）之间的关系进行了多元回归分析。
受教育年限与任何组的β淀粉样蛋白沉积或脑代谢均无相关性。然而，受教育年限仅与 MCI 参与者的总脑容量呈正相关。
我们的研究结果表明，教育可能对 MCI 阶段的总脑容量有保护作用，但对 HC 或 AD 没有作用。因此，教育可能通过 MCI 中的脑储备在预防痴呆症发病方面发挥重要作用。
