Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Concussion Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Neurobiol Aging. 2024 Jan;133:28-38. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.10.001. Epub 2023 Oct 6.
The relationship between tau deposition and cognitive decline in cognitively healthy older adults is still unclear. The tau PET tracer F-MK-6240 has shown favorable imaging characteristics to identify early tau deposition in aging. We evaluated the relationship between in vivo tau levels (F-MK-6240) and retrospective cognitive change over 5 years in episodic memory, processing speed, and reasoning. For tau quantification, a set of regions of interest (ROIs) was selected a priori based on previous literature: (1) total-ROI comprising selected areas, (2) medial temporal lobe-ROI, and (3) lateral temporal lobe-ROI and cingulate/parietal lobe-ROI. Higher tau burden in most ROIs was associated with a steeper decline in memory and speed. There were no associations between tau and reasoning change. The novelty of this finding is that tau burden may affect not only episodic memory, a well-established finding but also processing speed. Our finding reinforces the notion that early tau deposition in areas related to Alzheimer's disease is associated with cognitive decline in cognitively unimpaired individuals, even in a sample with low amyloid-β pathology.
在认知健康的老年人中，tau 沉积与认知能力下降之间的关系尚不清楚。tau PET 示踪剂 F-MK-6240 具有良好的成像特征，可用于识别衰老过程中的早期 tau 沉积。我们评估了体内 tau 水平（F-MK-6240）与 5 年内情景记忆、处理速度和推理的回溯性认知变化之间的关系。为了定量 tau，根据先前的文献，预先选择了一组感兴趣的区域（ROI）：（1）总 ROI，包含选定的区域，（2）内侧颞叶 ROI，（3）外侧颞叶 ROI 和扣带回/顶叶 ROI。大多数 ROI 中的 tau 负担越高，记忆和速度的下降越陡峭。tau 与推理变化之间没有关联。这一发现的新颖之处在于，tau 负担可能不仅影响情景记忆，这是一个已确立的发现，而且还影响处理速度。我们的发现进一步证实了这样一种观点，即在与阿尔茨海默病相关的区域中早期的 tau 沉积与认知功能正常的个体的认知能力下降有关，即使在淀粉样蛋白-β病理学水平较低的样本中也是如此。
