1
|
Gaynor AM, Gazes Y, Haynes CR, Babukutty RS, Habeck C, Stern Y, Gu Y. Childhood engagement in cognitively stimulating activities moderates relationships between brain structure and cognitive function in adulthood. Neurobiol Aging 2024; 138:36-44. [PMID: 38522385 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Greater engagement in cognitively stimulating activities (CSA) during adulthood has been shown to protect against neurocognitive decline, but no studies have investigated whether CSA during childhood protects against effects of brain changes on cognition later in life. The current study tested the moderating role of childhood CSA in the relationships between brain structure and cognitive performance during adulthood. At baseline (N=250) and 5-year follow-up (N=204) healthy adults aged 20-80 underwent MRI to assess four structural brain measures and completed neuropsychological tests to measure three cognitive domains. Participants were categorized into low and high childhood CSA based on self-report questionnaires. Results of multivariable linear regressions analyzing interactions between CSA, brain structure, and cognition showed that higher childhood CSA was associated with a weaker relationship between cortical thickness and memory at baseline, and attenuated the effects of change in cortical thickness and brain volume on decline in processing speed over time. These findings suggest higher CSA during childhood may mitigate the effects of brain structure changes on cognitive function later in life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra M Gaynor
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Montclair State University, Department of Psychology, Montclair, NJ, United States
| | - Yunglin Gazes
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Caleb R Haynes
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Reshma S Babukutty
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Christian Habeck
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Yaakov Stern
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Yian Gu
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zammit AR, Bennett DA, Buchman AS. From theory to practice: translating the concept of cognitive resilience to novel therapeutic targets that maintain cognition in aging adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2024; 15:1303912. [PMID: 38283067 PMCID: PMC10811007 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1303912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024] Open
Abstract
While the concept of cognitive resilience is well-established it has not been defined in a way that can be measured. This has been an impediment to studying its underlying biology and to developing instruments for its clinical assessment. This perspective highlights recent work that has quantified the expression of cortical proteins associated with cognitive resilience, thus facilitating studies of its complex underlying biology and the full range of its clinical effects in aging adults. These initial studies provide empirical support for the conceptualization of resilience as a continuum. Like other conventional risk factors, some individuals manifest higher-than-average cognitive resilience and other individuals manifest lower-than-average cognitive resilience. These novel approaches for advancing studies of cognitive resilience can be generalized to other aging phenotypes and can set the stage for the development of clinical tools that might have the potential to measure other mechanisms of resilience in aging adults. These advances also have the potential to catalyze a complementary therapeutic approach that focuses on augmenting resilience via lifestyle changes or therapies targeting its underlying molecular mechanisms to maintain cognition and brain health even in the presence of untreatable stressors like brain pathologies that accumulate in aging adults.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea R. Zammit
- Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - David A. Bennett
- Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Aron S. Buchman
- Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Simon SS, Varangis E, Lee S, Gu Y, Gazes Y, Razlighi QR, Habeck C, Stern Y. In vivo tau is associated with change in memory and processing speed, but not reasoning, in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Neurobiol Aging 2024; 133:28-38. [PMID: 38376885 PMCID: PMC10879688 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
The relationship between tau deposition and cognitive decline in cognitively healthy older adults is still unclear. The tau PET tracer 18F-MK-6240 has shown favorable imaging characteristics to identify early tau deposition in aging. We evaluated the relationship between in vivo tau levels (18F-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.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Sanz Simon
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | - Eleanna Varangis
- School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Concussion Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Seonjoo Lee
- Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yian Gu
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yunglin Gazes
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Christian Habeck
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yaakov Stern
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Chad JA, Sochen N, Chen JJ, Pasternak O. Implications of fitting a two-compartment model in single-shell diffusion MRI. Phys Med Biol 2023; 68:10.1088/1361-6560/ad0216. [PMID: 37816373 PMCID: PMC10929942 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ad0216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023]
Abstract
It is becoming increasingly common for studies to fit single-shell diffusion MRI data to a two-compartment model, which comprises a hindered cellular compartment and a freely diffusing isotropic compartment. These studies consistently find that the fraction of the isotropic compartment (f) is sensitive to white matter (WM) conditions and pathologies, although the actual biological source of changes infhas not been validated. In this work we put aside the biological interpretation offand study the sensitivity implications of fitting single-shell data to a two-compartment model. We identify a nonlinear transformation between the one-compartment model (diffusion tensor imaging, DTI) and a two-compartment model in which the mean diffusivities of both compartments are effectively fixed. While the analytic relationship implies that fitting this two-compartment model does not offer any more information than DTI, it explains why metrics derived from a two-compartment model can exhibit enhanced sensitivity over DTI to certain types of WM processes, such as age-related WM differences. The sensitivity enhancement should not be viewed as a substitute for acquiring multi-shell data. Rather, the results of this study provide insight into the consequences of choosing a two-compartment model when only single-shell data is available.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jordan A. Chad
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Nir Sochen
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - J Jean Chen
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Ofer Pasternak
- Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
- Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|