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Springer SD, Wiesman AI, May PE, Schantell M, Johnson HJ, Willett MP, Castelblanco CA, Eastman JA, Christopher-Hayes NJ, Wolfson SL, Johnson CM, Murman DL, Wilson TW. Altered visual entrainment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: magnetoencephalography evidence. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac198. [PMID: 35974799 PMCID: PMC9374481 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research has indicated that rhythmic visual entrainment may be useful in clearing pathological protein deposits in the central nervous system of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. However, visual entrainment studies in human patients with Alzheimer’s disease are rare, and as such the degree to which these patients exhibit aberrations in the neural tracking of rhythmic visual stimuli is unknown. To fill this gap, we recorded magnetoencephalography during a 15 Hz visual entrainment paradigm in amyloid-positive patients on the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum and compared their neural responses to a demographically matched group of biomarker-negative healthy controls. Magnetoencephalography data were imaged using a beamformer and virtual sensor data were extracted from the peak visual entrainment responses. Our results indicated that, relative to healthy controls, participants on the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum exhibited significantly stronger 15 Hz entrainment in primary visual cortices relative to a pre-stimulus baseline period. However, the two groups exhibited comparable absolute levels of neural entrainment, and higher absolute levels of entertainment predicted greater Mini-mental Status Examination scores, such that those patients whose absolute entrainment amplitude was closer to the level seen in controls had better cognitive function. In addition, 15 Hz periodic activity, but not aperiodic activity, during the pre-stimulus baseline period was significantly decreased in patients on the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum. This pattern of results indicates that patients on the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum exhibited increased visual entrainment to rhythmic stimuli and that this increase is likely compensatory in nature. More broadly, these results show that visual entrainment is altered in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and should be further examined in future studies, as changes in the capacity to entrain visual stimuli may prove useful as a marker of Alzheimer’s disease progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seth D Springer
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
| | - Alex I Wiesman
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University , Montreal, QC H3A 2B4 , Canada
| | - Pamela E May
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
| | - Mikki Schantell
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
| | - Hallie J Johnson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
| | - Madelyn P Willett
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
| | - Camilo A Castelblanco
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
| | - Jacob A Eastman
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
| | - Nicholas J Christopher-Hayes
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis , Davis, CA 95616 , USA
| | - Sara L Wolfson
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
| | - Craig M Johnson
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
| | - Daniel L Murman
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
- Memory Disorders & Behavioral Neurology Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
| | - Tony W Wilson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital , Omaha, NE 68010 , USA
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, NE 68198 , USA
- Department of Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Creighton University , Omaha, NE 68178 , USA
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