Level of education mitigates the impact of tau pathology on neuronal function.
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
; 46(9): 1787-1795, 2019 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31183635
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
Using PET imaging in a group of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), we investigated whether level of education, a proxy for resilience, mitigates the harmful impact of tau pathology on neuronal function.METHODS:
We included 38 patients with mild-to-moderate AD (mean age 67 ± 7 years, mean MMSE score 24 ± 4, mean years of education 14 ± 4; 20 men, 18 women) in whom a [18F]AV-1451 scan (a measure of tau pathology) and an [18F]FDG scan (a measure of neuronal function) were available. The preprocessed PET scans were z-transformed using templates for [18F]AV-1451 and [18F]FDG from healthy controls, and subsequently thresholded at a z-score of ≥3.0, representing an one-tailed p value of 0.001. Next, three volumes were computed in each patient the tau-specific volume (tau pathology without neuronal dysfunction), the FDG-specific volume (neuronal dysfunction without tau pathology), and the overlap volume (tau pathology and neuronal dysfunction). Mean z-scores and volumes were extracted and used as dependent variables in regression analysis with years of education as predictor, and age and MMSE score as covariates.RESULTS:
Years of education were positively associated with tau-specific volume (ß = 0.362, p = 0.022), suggesting a lower impact of tau pathology on neuronal function in patients with higher levels of education. Concomitantly, level of education was positively related to tau burden in the overlap volume (ß = 0.303, p = 0.036) implying that with higher levels of education more tau pathology is necessary to induce neuronal dysfunction.CONCLUSION:
In patients with higher levels of education, tau pathology is less paralleled by regional and remote neuronal dysfunction. The data suggest that early life-time factors such as level of education support resilience mechanisms, which ameliorate AD-related effects later in life.Palavras-chave
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Proteínas tau
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Escolaridade
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Doença de Alzheimer
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Neurônios
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2019
Tipo de documento:
Article