Association of Cognition and Brain Reserve in Aging and Glymphatic Function Using Diffusion Tensor Image-along the Perivascular Space (DTI-ALPS)

• Published in: Neuroscience Vol. 524; pp. 11 - 20
• Main Authors: Hsiao, Wen-Chiu, Chang, Hsin-I, Hsu, Shih-Wei, Lee, Chen-Chang, Huang, Shu-Hua, Cheng, Chia-Hsiung, Huang, Chi-Wei, Chang, Chiung-Chih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2023
• Subjects: brain reserve; cognitive reserve; cognitively unimpaired aging; DTI-ALPS; glymphatic system; AD; GM; DTI-ALPS; cognitive reserve; CNS; AQP4; CASI; CN; glymphatic system; brain reserve; cognitively unimpaired aging; ALPS; MMSE; DTI
• ISSN: 0306-4522; 1873-7544; 1873-7544
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.04.004

•The ALPS index peaks at age 30.•The ALPS index has an age-dependent decrease in cognitively unimpaired individual.•A higher ALPS index in older people can reflect a greater cortical volume reserve. The glymphatic system is a fluid-clearance pathway that clears cerebral waste products, and its dysfunction has been associated with protein aggregation diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. To understand how the glymphatic system changes with aging, we enrolled 433 cognitive unimpaired participants (236 women and 197 men, 13–88 years) and evaluated the glymphatic function by calculating diffusion tensor imaging analysis along the perivascular space (ALPS) index and explored how the ALPS index is associated with cortical atrophy and cognitive decline in older people. We found a significant inverse correlation between ALPS index and age (ρ = −0.45, p < 0.001), with a peak value in people in their thirties. A higher ALPS index indicated a better cortical reserve in regions coincided with the default mode network. Declines in mental manipulation and short-term memory performance in the older participants were associated with a lower ALPS index and cortical atrophy in the amygdala, anterior and posterior cingulate, thalamus and middle frontal regions. Our findings highlight that the ALPS index could be used to evaluate brain reserve and cognitive reserve in older people.