Lower serum uric acid and impairment of right cerebral hemisphere structural brain networks are related to depressive symptoms in cerebral small vessel disease: A cross-sectional study.

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) may be associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms. Serum uric acid (SUA), an antioxidant, may be involved in the occurrence and development of depressive symptoms, but the mechanism remains unknown. Moreover, the relationship between structural brain networks and SUA has not been explored. This study examined the relationship between SUA and depressive symptoms in patients with SVD using graph theory analysis. We recruited 208 SVD inpatients and collected fasting blood samples upon admission. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-24). Magnetic resonance imaging was used to evaluate SVD, and diffusion tensor images were used to analyze structural brain networks using graph theory. Patients with depressive symptoms (n = 34, 25.76%) compared to those without (334.53 vs 381.28 µmol/L, p = 0.017) had lower SUA levels. Graph theoretical analyses showed a positive association of SUA with betweenness centrality, nodal efficiency, and clustering coefficients and a negative correlation with the shortest path length in SVD with depressive symptoms group. HAMD scores were significantly associated with nodal network metrics in the right cerebral hemisphere. Our findings suggested that lower SUA levels are significantly associated with disrupted structural brain networks in the right cerebral hemisphere of patients with SVD who have depressive symptoms.

Correlation Between Plasma Oligomeric Amyloid-ß and Performance on the Language Neutral Visual Cognitive Assessment Test in a Southeast Asian Population.

Oligomeric amyloid-ß (OAß), an upstream driver of Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, correlates with poor cognitive performance and brain volume reduction. Its effect on cognitive performance measured by the language neutral Visual Cognitive Assessment Test (VCAT) remains to be evaluated. We studied the correlation of plasma OAß with VCAT scores and grey matter volume (GMV) in a Southeast Asian cohort with mild cognitive impairment. Higher plasma OAß significantly correlated with lower; cognitive scores (VCAT, Mini-Mental State Examination) and GMV/intracranial volume ratio. Such findings reveal the clinical utility of plasma OAß as a promising biomarker and support validation through longitudinal studies.