Relationship Between Regional Brain Volumes and Cognitive Performance in the Healthy Aging: An MRI Study Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

Autor(es)

Squarzoni, Paula ^[1] ; Tamashiro-Duran, Jaqueline ^[1] ; Souza Duran, Fabio Luis ^[1] ; Santos, Luciana Cristina ^[1] ; Vallada, Homero Pinto ^[2] ; Menezes, Paulo Rossi ^[3] ; Scazufca, Marcia ^[2] ; Busatto Filho, Geraldo ^[1] ; Toledo de Ferraz Alves, Tania Correa ^{[1, 4]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Psychiat, Lab Psychiat Neuroimaging LIM 21, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Psychiat, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Prevent Med, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] ABC Reg Med Sch, Santo Andre - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE; v. 31, n. 1, p. 45-58, 2012.
• Citações Web of Science: 12

Resumo

The presence of cognitive impairment is a frequent complaint among elderly individuals in the general population. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between aging-related regional gray matter (rGM) volume changes and cognitive performance in healthy elderly adults. Morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures were acquired in a community-based sample of 170 cognitively-preserved subjects (66 to 75 years). This sample was drawn from the ``Sao Paulo Ageing and Health{''} study, an epidemiological study aimed at investigating the prevalence and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in a low income region of the city of Sao Paulo. All subjects underwent cognitive testing using a cross-culturally battery validated by the Research Group on Dementia 10/66 as well as the SKT (applied on the day of MRI scanning). Blood genotyping was performed to determine the frequency of the three apolipoprotein E allele variants (APOE epsilon 2/epsilon 3/epsilon 4) in the sample. Voxelwise linear correlation analyses between rGM volumes and cognitive test scores were performed using voxel-based morphometry, including chronological age as covariate. There were significant direct correlations between worse overall cognitive performance and rGM reductions in the right orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, and also between verbal fluency scores and bilateral parahippocampal gyral volume (p < 0.05, familywise-error corrected for multiple comparisons using small volume correction). When analyses were repeated adding the presence of the APOE epsilon 4 allele as confounding covariate or excluding a minority of APOE epsilon 2 carriers, all findings retained significance. These results indicate that rGM volumes are relevant biomarkers of cognitive deficits in healthy aging individuals, most notably involving temporolimbic regions and the orbitofrontal cortex. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 04/15336-5 - Alterações cerebrais associadas a fatores de risco cardiovascular: um estudo de base populacional usando morfometria voxel-a-voxel por ressonância magnética e medidas de metabolismo de glicose por tomografia por emissão de pósitrons
• Beneficiário: Geraldo Busatto Filho
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular