Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse (IMFT), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France.
ToNIC UMR 1214, INSERM, Toulouse, France.
J Neurol. 2020 May;267(5):1389-1400. doi: 10.1007/s00415-019-09689-z. Epub 2020 Jan 29.
Frailty is known to predict dementia. However, its link with neurodegenerative alterations of the central nervous system (CNS) is not well understood at present. We investigated the association between the biomechanical response of the CNS and frailty in older adults suspected of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) presenting with markers of multiple co-existing pathologies. The biomechanical response of the CNS was characterized by the CNS elastance coefficient inferred from phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging and intracranial pressure monitoring during a lumbar infusion test. Frailty was assessed with an index of health deficit accumulation. We found a significant association between the CNS elastance coefficient and frailty, with an effect size comparable to that between frailty and age, the latter being the strongest known risk factor for frailty. Results were independent of CSF dynamics, showing that they are not specific to the NPH neuropathological condition. The CNS biomechanical characterization may help to understand how frailty is related to neurodegeneration and detect the shift from normal to pathological brain ageing.
衰弱与痴呆有关。然而，目前人们对衰弱与中枢神经系统（CNS）神经退行性改变的联系还不太了解。我们研究了疑似正常压力脑积水（NPH）的老年人的 CNS 生物力学反应与存在多种共存病理标志物的衰弱之间的关联。通过腰椎输注试验期间的相位对比磁共振成像和颅内压监测，得出 CNS 弹性系数来描述 CNS 的生物力学反应。用健康缺陷积累指数来评估衰弱。我们发现 CNS 弹性系数与衰弱之间存在显著关联，其效应大小与衰弱与年龄之间的关联相当，后者是衰弱的最强已知危险因素。结果与 CSF 动力学无关，表明它们不是特定于 NPH 神经病理学状况的。CNS 生物力学特征的描述可以帮助理解衰弱与神经退行性变的关系，并检测从正常到病理性脑老化的转变。
