Shafer Andrea T, Williams Owen A, Perez Evian, An Yang, Landman Bennett A, Ferrucci Luigi, Resnick Susan M
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Brain Commun. 2022 Mar 1;4(2):fcac051. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac051. eCollection 2022.
Little is known about a longitudinal decline in white matter microstructure and its associations with cognition in preclinical dementia. Longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging and neuropsychological testing were performed in 50 older adults who subsequently developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia (subsequently impaired) and 200 cognitively normal controls. Rates of white matter microstructural decline were compared between groups using voxel-wise linear mixed-effects models. Associations between change in white matter microstructure and cognition were examined. Subsequently impaired individuals had a faster decline in fractional anisotropy in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and bilateral splenium of the corpus callosum. A decline in right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus fractional anisotropy was related to a decline in verbal memory, visuospatial ability, processing speed and mini-mental state examination. A decline in bilateral splenium fractional anisotropy was related to a decline in verbal fluency, processing speed and mini-mental state examination. Accelerated regional white matter microstructural decline is evident during the preclinical phase of mild cognitive impairment/dementia and is related to domain-specific cognitive decline.
关于临床前痴呆患者白质微观结构的纵向衰退及其与认知的关联，目前所知甚少。对50名随后发展为轻度认知障碍或痴呆（随后出现认知障碍）的老年人和200名认知正常的对照者进行了纵向扩散张量成像和神经心理学测试。使用体素线性混合效应模型比较了两组之间白质微观结构衰退的速率。研究了白质微观结构变化与认知之间的关联。随后出现认知障碍的个体，其右侧额枕下束和胼胝体双侧压部的各向异性分数下降更快。右侧额枕下束各向异性分数的下降与言语记忆、视觉空间能力、处理速度和简易精神状态检查的下降有关。胼胝体双侧压部各向异性分数的下降与言语流畅性、处理速度和简易精神状态检查的下降有关。在轻度认知障碍/痴呆的临床前阶段，区域白质微观结构加速衰退明显，且与特定领域的认知衰退有关。
