Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Alzheimers Dement. 2021 Jun;17(6):1017-1025. doi: 10.1002/alz.12261. Epub 2021 Feb 13.
The locus coeruleus (LC) undergoes extensive neurodegeneration in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). The LC is implicated in regulating the sleep-wake cycle, modulating cognitive function, and AD progression.
Participants were 481 men (ages 62 to 71.7) from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging. LC structural integrity was indexed by neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast-to-noise ratio (LC ). We examined LC , cognition, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and daytime dysfunction.
Heritability of LC was .48. Participants with aMCI showed greater daytime dysfunction. Lower LC was associated with poorer episodic memory, general verbal fluency, semantic fluency, and processing speed, as well as increased odds of aMCI and greater daytime dysfunction.
Reduced LC integrity is associated with widespread differences across cognitive domains, daytime sleep-related dysfunction, and risk for aMCI. These findings in late-middle-aged adults highlight the potential of MRI-based measures of LC integrity in early identification of AD risk.
蓝斑（LC）在早期阿尔茨海默病（AD）中经历广泛的神经退行性变。LC 参与调节睡眠-觉醒周期、调节认知功能和 AD 进展。
参与者为来自越南时代衰老双胞胎研究的 481 名男性（年龄 62 至 71.7 岁）。LC 结构完整性由神经黑色素敏感磁共振成像（MRI）对比噪声比（LC ）指数表示。我们检查了 LC 、认知、遗忘型轻度认知障碍（aMCI）和日间功能障碍。
LC 的遗传率为.48。患有 aMCI 的参与者表现出更大的日间功能障碍。较低的 LC 与较差的情景记忆、一般言语流畅性、语义流畅性和处理速度相关，以及更高的 aMCI 和更大的日间功能障碍的几率。
LC 完整性降低与认知领域的广泛差异、日间睡眠相关功能障碍以及 aMCI 的风险相关。这些在中老年成年人中的发现突出了基于 MRI 的 LC 完整性测量在早期识别 AD 风险中的潜力。
