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Spatial navigation impairment is proportional to right hippocampal volume
Nedelska Z, Andel R, Laczó J, Vlcek K, Horinek D, Lisy J, Sheardova K, Bures J et al.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012-01-30
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Cognitive deficits in older adults attributable to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology are featured early on by hippocampal impairment. Among these individuals, deterioration in spatial navigation, manifested by poor hippocampus-dependent allocentric navigation, may occur well before the clinical onset of dementia. Our aim was to determine whether allocentric spatial navigation impairment would be proportional to right hippocampal volume loss irrespective of general brain atrophy. We also contrasted the respective spatial navigation scores of the real-space human Morris water maze with its corresponding 2D computer version. We included 42 cognitively impaired patients with either amnestic mild cognitive impairment (n = 23) or mild and moderate AD (n = 19), and 14 cognitively intact older controls. All participants underwent 1.5T MRI brain scanning with subsequent automatic measurement of the total brain and hippocampal (right and left) volumes. Allocentric spatial navigation was tested in the real-space version of the human Morris water maze and in its corresponding computer version. Participants used two navigational cues to locate an invisible goal independent of the start position. We found that smaller right hippocampal volume was associated with poorer navigation performance in both the real-space (β = -0.62, P < 0.001) and virtual (β = -0.43, P = 0.026) versions, controlling for demographic variables, total brain and left hippocampal volumes. In subsequent analyses, the results were significant in cognitively impaired (P ≤ 0.05) but not in cognitively healthy (P > 0.59) subjects. The respective real-space and virtual scores strongly correlated with each other. Our findings indicate that the right hippocampus plays a critical role in allocentric navigation, particularly when cognitive impairment is present.
Key findings
- We found that smaller right hippocampal volume was associated with poorer navigation performance in both the real-space (β = -0.62, P < 0.001) and virtual (β = -0.43, P = 0.026) versions, controlling for demographic variables, total brain and left hippocampal volumes.
- In subsequent analyses, the results were significant in cognitively impaired (P ≤ 0.05) but not in cognitively healthy (P > 0.59) subjects.
- Our findings indicate that the right hippocampus plays a critical role in allocentric navigation, particularly when cognitive impairment is present.
Study details
- Participants23
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 43/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported 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 25 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 43 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) |
| 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 | 2012 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 23 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| 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 22308496) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 25 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 25 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 43 out of 100. |
| Total | 43 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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APA 7th
Nedelska, Z., Andel, R., Laczó, J., Vlcek, K., Horinek, D., Lisy, J., et al. (2012). Spatial navigation impairment is proportional to right hippocampal volume. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1121588109
Vancouver
Nedelska Z, Andel R, Laczó J, Vlcek K, Horinek D, Lisy J, et al. Spatial navigation impairment is proportional to right hippocampal volume. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2012. doi:10.1073/pnas.1121588109. PMID: 22308496.
BibTeX
@article{nedelska2012-22308496,
author = {Nedelska, Z. and Andel, R. and Laczó, J. and Vlcek, K. and Horinek, D. and Lisy, J. and Sheardova, K. and Bures, J. and others},
title = {{Spatial navigation impairment is proportional to right hippocampal volume}},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1121588109},
pmid = {22308496},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1121588109}
}
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