Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, 250 Warren Hall, 2195 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States.
School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and the Environment, University of Newcastle, University Dr, Callaghan, Newcastle, NSW 2305, Australia.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Apr 1;34(4). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae134.
Tau pathology is associated with cognitive impairment in both aging and Alzheimer's disease, but the functional and structural bases of this relationship remain unclear. We hypothesized that the integrity of behaviorally meaningful functional networks would help explain the relationship between tau and cognitive performance. Using resting state fMRI, we identified unique networks related to episodic memory and executive function cognitive domains. The episodic memory network was particularly related to tau pathology measured with positron emission tomography in the entorhinal and temporal cortices. Further, episodic memory network strength mediated the relationship between tau pathology and cognitive performance above and beyond neurodegeneration. We replicated the association between these networks and tau pathology in a separate cohort of older adults, including both cognitively unimpaired and mildly impaired individuals. Together, these results suggest that behaviorally meaningful functional brain networks represent a functional mechanism linking tau pathology and cognition.
tau 病理学与衰老和阿尔茨海默病患者的认知障碍有关，但这种关系的功能和结构基础仍不清楚。我们假设行为相关的功能网络的完整性将有助于解释 tau 与认知表现之间的关系。使用静息态 fMRI，我们确定了与情景记忆和执行功能认知领域相关的独特网络。情景记忆网络与正电子发射断层扫描测量的额颞叶内的 tau 病理学特别相关。此外，情景记忆网络强度在神经退行性变之外介导了 tau 病理学与认知表现之间的关系。我们在另一组老年人中复制了这些网络与 tau 病理学之间的关联，包括认知正常和轻度受损的个体。综上所述，这些结果表明，有意义的行为功能脑网络代表了一种将 tau 病理学与认知联系起来的功能机制。
