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Tau and β-Amyloid Are Associated with Medial Temporal Lobe Structure, Function, and Memory Encoding in Normal Aging
Marks SM, Lockhart SN, Baker SL, Jagust WJ.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2017-02-17
Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers
Normal aging is associated with a decline in episodic memory and also with aggregation of the β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau proteins and atrophy of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures crucial to memory formation. Although some evidence suggests that Aβ is associated with aberrant neural activity, the relationships among these two aggregated proteins, neural function, and brain structure are poorly understood. Using in vivo human Aβ and tau imaging, we demonstrate that increased Aβ and tau are both associated with aberrant fMRI activity in the MTL during memory encoding in cognitively normal older adults. This pathological neural activity was in turn associated with worse memory performance and atrophy within the MTL. A mediation analysis revealed that the relationship with regional atrophy was explained by MTL tau. These findings broaden the concept of cognitive aging to include evidence of Alzheimer's disease-related protein aggregation as an underlying mechanism of age-related memory impairment. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Alterations in episodic memory and the accumulation of Alzheimer's pathology are common in cognitively normal older adults. However, evidence of pathological effects on episodic memory has largely been limited to β-amyloid (Aβ). Because Aβ and tau often cooccur in older adults, previous research offers an incomplete understanding of the relationship between pathology and episodic memory. With the recent development of in vivo tau PET radiotracers, we show that Aβ and tau are associated with different aspects of memory encoding, leading to aberrant neural activity that is behaviorally detrimental. In addition, our results provide evidence linking Aβ- and tau-associated neural dysfunction to brain atrophy.
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APA 7th
Marks, S. M., Lockhart, S. N., Baker, S. L., & Jagust, W. J. (2017). Tau and β-Amyloid Are Associated with Medial Temporal Lobe Structure, Function, and Memory Encoding in Normal Aging. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.3769-16.2017
Vancouver
Marks SM, Lockhart SN, Baker SL, Jagust WJ. Tau and β-Amyloid Are Associated with Medial Temporal Lobe Structure, Function, and Memory Encoding in Normal Aging. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2017. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3769-16.2017. PMID: 28213439.
BibTeX
@article{marks2017-28213439,
author = {Marks, S. M. and Lockhart, S. N. and Baker, S. L. and Jagust, W. J.},
title = {{Tau and β-Amyloid Are Associated with Medial Temporal Lobe Structure, Function, and Memory Encoding in Normal Aging}},
journal = {The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1523/jneurosci.3769-16.2017},
pmid = {28213439},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.3769-16.2017}
}
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Key findings
- Normal aging is associated with a decline in episodic memory and also with aggregation of the β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau proteins and atrophy of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures crucial to memory formation.
- Although some evidence suggests that Aβ is associated with aberrant neural activity, the relationships among these two aggregated proteins, neural function, and brain structure are poorly understood.
- Using in vivo human Aβ and tau imaging, we demonstrate that increased Aβ and tau are both associated with aberrant fMRI activity in the MTL during memory encoding in cognitively normal older adults.
- This pathological neural activity was in turn associated with worse memory performance and atrophy within the MTL.
- A mediation analysis revealed that the relationship with regional atrophy was explained by MTL tau.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 38/100
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 22 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 38 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for 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 | 2 / 5 | 2017 — within 10 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 28213439) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 22 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 22 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 38 out of 100. |
| Total | 38 / 100 | — |
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