Cholinergic white matter pathways make a stronger contribution to attention and memory in normal aging than cerebrovascular health and nucleus basalis of Meynert
Language English Country United States Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PubMed
32035186
DOI
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116607
PII: S1053-8119(20)30094-X
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- Basal forebrain, Cholinergic system, Cognition, Magnetic resonance imaging, Normal aging, Small vessel disease,
- MeSH
- White Matter anatomy & histology diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Neural Pathways anatomy & histology diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Basal Nucleus of Meynert anatomy & histology diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Memory physiology MeSH
- Basal Forebrain anatomy & histology diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Attention physiology MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Sex Factors MeSH
- Aging physiology MeSH
- Age Factors MeSH
- Diffusion Tensor Imaging * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
The integrity of the cholinergic system plays a central role in cognitive decline both in normal aging and neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease and vascular cognitive impairment. Most of the previous neuroimaging research has focused on the integrity of the cholinergic basal forebrain, or its sub-region the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM). Tractography using diffusion tensor imaging data may enable modelling of the NBM white matter projections. We investigated the contribution of NBM volume, NBM white matter projections, small vessel disease (SVD), and age to performance in attention and memory in 262 cognitively normal individuals (39-77 years of age, 53% female). We developed a multimodal MRI pipeline for NBM segmentation and diffusion-based tracking of NBM white matter projections, and computed white matter hypointensities (WM-hypo) as a marker of SVD. We successfully tracked pathways that closely resemble the spatial layout of the cholinergic system as seen in previous post-mortem and DTI tractography studies. We found that high WM-hypo load was associated with older age, male sex, and lower performance in attention and memory. A high WM-hypo load was also associated with lower integrity of the cholinergic system above and beyond the effect of age. In a multivariate model, age and integrity of NBM white matter projections were stronger contributors than WM-hypo load and NBM volume to performance in attention and memory. We conclude that the integrity of NBM white matter projections plays a fundamental role in cognitive aging. This and other modern neuroimaging methods offer new opportunities to re-evaluate the cholinergic hypothesis of cognitive aging.
Clinical Dementia Research Section German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Rostock Germany
Faculty of Psychology University of La Laguna La Laguna Tenerife Spain
References provided by Crossref.org
Cholinergic white matter pathways along the Alzheimer's disease continuum
Cerebrovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and clinical phenotype in dementia with Lewy bodies
