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Decreased water exchange rate across the blood-brain barrier throughout the Alzheimer's disease continuum: Evidence from Chinese data
Chen G, Li H, Shao X, Wang DJJ, Hu W, Han Y, Yang Q.. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2025-03-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Plain-language summary
Introduction Water exchange rate (Kw) across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to evaluate BBB functionality. Variations in BBB Kw across the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum remain uncertain. Methods The study encompassed 38 cognitively normal individuals without AD biomarkers (CN_A-), 30 cognitively normal (CN_A+), and 31 cognitively impaired individuals (CI_A+) with positive AD biomarkers. Participants underwent clinical assessments, MRI/positron emission tomography scans, and assays of plasma biomarkers. Results Significantly lower Kw was observed in multiple brain regions throughout the AD continuum. This alteration in Kw correlated with plasma biomarkers and neuropsychological performance. Elevated levels of phosphorylated tau 217 intensified the inverse relationship between Kw and neuropsychological performance. The integration of Kw, brain volume, and plasma biomarkers demonstrated potential in distinguishing stages within the AD continuum. Discussion Consistently lower Kw was evident across the AD continuum and may act as a diagnostic tool for early AD screening. Highlights Observations revealed a decline in water exchange rate (Kw) across multiple brain regions within the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum, notably in the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and deep brain nuclei during the preclinical stage of AD. Strong correlations were established between Kw levels in various brain regions and plasma biomarkers, as well as neuropsychological performance in the AD continuum. Interaction between plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau)217 and Kw in the hippocampus was linked to executive function, indicating a combined detrimental impact on cognitive abilities stemming from both blood-brain barrier Kw and p-tau 217. The combined use of Kw, brain volume, and plasma biomarkers-neurofilament light chain and glial fibrillary acidic protein-demonstrated potential for distinguishing individuals within the AD continuum.
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APA 7th
Chen, G., Li, H., Shao, X., Wang, D. J. J., Hu, W., Han, Y., et al. (2025). Decreased water exchange rate across the blood-brain barrier throughout the Alzheimer's disease continuum: Evidence from Chinese data. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70089
Vancouver
Chen G, Li H, Shao X, Wang DJJ, Hu W, Han Y, et al. Decreased water exchange rate across the blood-brain barrier throughout the Alzheimer's disease continuum: Evidence from Chinese data. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 2025. doi:10.1002/alz.70089. PMID: 40145328.
BibTeX
@article{chen2025-40145328,
author = {Chen, G. and Li, H. and Shao, X. and Wang, D. J. J. and Hu, W. and Han, Y. and Yang, Q.},
title = {{Decreased water exchange rate across the blood-brain barrier throughout the Alzheimer's disease continuum: Evidence from Chinese data}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1002/alz.70089},
pmid = {40145328},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70089}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Results Significantly lower Kw was observed in multiple brain regions throughout the AD continuum.
- The integration of Kw, brain volume, and plasma biomarkers demonstrated potential in distinguishing stages within the AD continuum.
- Highlights Observations revealed a decline in water exchange rate (Kw) across multiple brain regions within the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum, notably in the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and deep brain nuclei during the preclinical stage of AD.
- The combined use of Kw, brain volume, and plasma biomarkers-neurofilament light chain and glial fibrillary acidic protein-demonstrated potential for distinguishing individuals within the AD continuum.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 28 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 48 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multicenter collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40145328) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 28 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 28 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 48 out of 100. |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
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