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Hippocampal Pathway Plasticity Is Associated with the Ability to Form Novel Memories in Older Adults
Antonenko D, Külzow N, Cesarz ME, Schindler K, Grittner U, Flöel A.. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2016-03-22
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
White matter deterioration in the aging human brain contributes to cognitive decline. The fornix as main efferent hippocampal pathway is one of the tracts most strongly associated with age-related memory impairment. Its deterioration may predict conversion to Alzheimer's dementia and its precursors. However, the associations between the ability to form novel memories, fornix microstructure and plasticity in response to training have never been tested. In the present study, 25 healthy older adults (15 women; mean age (SD): 69 (6) years) underwent an object-location training on three consecutive days. Behavioral outcome measures comprised recall performance on the training days, and on 1-day and 1-month follow up assessments. MRI at 3 Tesla was assessed before and after training. Fornix microstructure was determined by fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity (MD) values from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In addition, hippocampal volumes were extracted from high-resolution images; individual hippocampal masks were further aligned to DTI images to determine hippocampal microstructure. Using linear mixed model analysis, we found that the change in fornix FA from pre- to post-training assessment was significantly associated with training success. Neither baseline fornix microstructure nor hippocampal microstructure or volume changes were significantly associated with performance. Further, models including control task performance (auditory verbal learning) and control white matter tract microstructure (uncinate fasciculus and parahippocampal cingulum) did not yield significant associations. Our results confirm that hippocampal pathways respond to short-term cognitive training, and extend previous findings by demonstrating that the magnitude of training-induced structural changes is associated with behavioral success in older adults. This suggests that the amount of fornix plasticity may not only be behaviorally relevant, but also a potential sensitive biomarker for the success of training interventions aimed at improving memory formation in older adults, a hypothesis to be evaluated in future studies.
Key findings
- The fornix as main efferent hippocampal pathway is one of the tracts most strongly associated with age-related memory impairment.
- Using linear mixed model analysis, we found that the change in fornix FA from pre- to post-training assessment was significantly associated with training success.
- Neither baseline fornix microstructure nor hippocampal microstructure or volume changes were significantly associated with performance.
- Further, models including control task performance (auditory verbal learning) and control white matter tract microstructure (uncinate fasciculus and parahippocampal cingulum) did not yield significant associations.
- Our results confirm that hippocampal pathways respond to short-term cognitive training, and extend previous findings by demonstrating that the magnitude of training-induced structural changes is associated with behavioral success in older adults.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 40/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / 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 multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 40 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Frontiers in aging neuroscience) |
| 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 | 1 / 5 | 2016 — within 20 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) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation 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 |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 27047376) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 23 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 40 out of 100. |
| Total | 40 / 100 | — |
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APA 7th
Antonenko, D., Külzow, N., Cesarz, M. E., Schindler, K., Grittner, U., & Flöel, A. (2016). Hippocampal Pathway Plasticity Is Associated with the Ability to Form Novel Memories in Older Adults. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00061
Vancouver
Antonenko D, Külzow N, Cesarz ME, Schindler K, Grittner U, Flöel A. Hippocampal Pathway Plasticity Is Associated with the Ability to Form Novel Memories in Older Adults. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. 2016. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2016.00061. PMID: 27047376.
BibTeX
@article{antonenko2016-27047376,
author = {Antonenko, D. and Külzow, N. and Cesarz, M. E. and Schindler, K. and Grittner, U. and Flöel, A.},
title = {{Hippocampal Pathway Plasticity Is Associated with the Ability to Form Novel Memories in Older Adults}},
journal = {Frontiers in aging neuroscience},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.3389/fnagi.2016.00061},
pmid = {27047376},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00061}
}