The preservation of right cingulum fibers in subjective cognitive decline of preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease

Yu Sun; Yanan Qiao; Jing Guo; Wenjie Hou; Yaojing Chen; Dantao Peng

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2023.1223697

The preservation of right cingulum fibers in subjective cognitive decline of preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease

Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 Oct 30:15:1223697. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1223697. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yu Sun^#¹, Yanan Qiao^#¹, Jing Guo¹, Wenjie Hou², Yaojing Chen², Dantao Peng¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) with a positive amyloid burden has been recognized as the earliest clinical symptom of the preclinical phase of Alzheimers disease (AD), providing invaluable opportunities to improve our understanding of the natural history of AD and determine strategies for early therapeutic interventions.

Methods: The microstructure of white matter in patients showing SCD in the preclinical phase of AD (SCD of pre-AD) was evaluated using diffusion images, and voxel-wise fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and axial and radial diffusivities were assessed and compared among participant groups. Significant clusters in the tracts were extracted to determine their associations with alterations in the cognitive domains.

Results: We found that individuals with SCD of pre-AD may have subclinical episodic memory impairment associated with the global amyloid burden. Meanwhile, we found significantly reduced FA and λ1 in the right cingulum (cingulate and hippocampus) in AD dementia, while significantly increased FA and decreased MD as well as λ23 in the SCD of pre-AD group in comparison with the HC group.

Discussion: In conclusion, increased white matter microstructural integrity in the right cingulum (cingulate and hippocampus) may indicate compensation for short-term episodic memory in individuals with SCD of pre-AD in comparison with individuals with AD and healthy elderly individuals.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; cingulum; compensatory mechanism; diffusion tensor imaging; subjective cognitive decline.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by (1) the National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding; (2) the Elite Medical Professionals Project of China-Japan Friendship Hospital (No. ZRJY2021-QM07); (3) the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 82201570 and 81974220).