Burzynska Agnieszka Z, Anderson Charles, Arciniegas David B, Calhoun Vince, Choi In-Young, Colmenares Andrea Mendez, Hiner Grace, Kramer Arthur F, Li Kaigang, Lee Jongho, Lee Phil, Oh Se-Hong, Umland Samantha, Thomas Michael L
The BRAiN lab, Department of Human Development and Family Studies/Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2023 Aug 19;5:100180. doi: 10.1016/j.cccb.2023.100180. eCollection 2023.
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of conditions that affects ∼25% of the global population, including excess adiposity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and elevated blood pressure. MetS is one of major risk factors not only for chronic diseases, but also for dementia and cognitive dysfunction, although the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. White matter is of particular interest in the context of MetS due to the metabolic vulnerability of myelin maintenance, and the accumulating evidence for the importance of the white matter in the pathophysiology of dementia. Therefore, we investigated the associations of MetS risk score and adiposity (combined body mass index and waist circumference) with myelin water fraction measured with myelin water imaging. In 90 cognitively and neurologically healthy adults (20-79 years), we found that both high MetS risk score and adiposity were correlated with lower myelin water fraction in late-myelinating prefrontal and associative fibers, controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education and income. Our findings call for randomized clinical trials to establish causality between MetS, adiposity, and myelin content, and to explore the potential of weight loss and visceral adiposity reduction as means to support maintenance of myelin integrity throughout adulthood, which could open new avenues for prevention or treatment of cognitive decline and dementia.
代谢综合征（MetS）是一组影响全球约25%人口的病症，包括肥胖、高血糖、血脂异常和血压升高。MetS不仅是慢性疾病的主要危险因素之一，也是痴呆和认知功能障碍的主要危险因素之一，尽管其潜在机制仍知之甚少。由于髓鞘维持的代谢易损性以及白质在痴呆病理生理学中的重要性的证据不断积累，白质在MetS背景下特别受关注。因此，我们研究了MetS风险评分和肥胖（综合体重指数和腰围）与通过髓鞘水成像测量的髓鞘水分数之间的关联。在90名认知和神经健康的成年人（20 - 79岁）中，我们发现，在控制年龄、性别、种族、民族、教育程度和收入后，高MetS风险评分和肥胖均与晚期髓鞘化的前额叶和联合纤维中较低的髓鞘水分数相关。我们的研究结果呼吁进行随机临床试验，以确定MetS、肥胖和髓鞘含量之间的因果关系，并探索减肥和减少内脏脂肪作为在整个成年期支持维持髓鞘完整性的手段的潜力，这可能为预防或治疗认知衰退和痴呆开辟新途径。
