Cerebrovascular pathology mediates associations between hypoxemia during rapid eye movement sleep and medial temporal lobe structure and function in older adults

Destiny E Berisha; Batool Rizvi; Miranda G Chappel-Farley; Nicholas Tustison; Lisa Taylor; Abhishek Dave; Negin S Sattari; Ivy Y Chen; Kitty K Lui; John C Janecek; David Keator; Ariel B Neikrug; Ruth M Benca; Michael A Yassa; Bryce A Mander

doi:10.1101/2024.01.28.577469

Cerebrovascular pathology mediates associations between hypoxemia during rapid eye movement sleep and medial temporal lobe structure and function in older adults

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jan 28:2024.01.28.577469. doi: 10.1101/2024.01.28.577469.

Authors

Destiny E Berisha^{1

2}, Batool Rizvi^{1

2}, Miranda G Chappel-Farley^{1

2}, Nicholas Tustison², Lisa Taylor^{1

2

3}, Abhishek Dave⁴, Negin S Sattari³, Ivy Y Chen³, Kitty K Lui⁵, John C Janecek^{1

2}, David Keator³, Ariel B Neikrug³, Ruth M Benca^{1

2

3

6

7

8

9}, Michael A Yassa^{1

2

3

9

10}, Bryce A Mander^{2

3

4

9

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
² Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
⁴ Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
⁵ San Diego State University/University of California San Diego, Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.
⁶ Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, 53706, WI, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA.
⁹ Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.
¹¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA, 92697, USA.

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in older adults and is associated with medial temporal lobe (MTL) degeneration and memory decline in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms linking OSA to MTL degeneration and impaired memory remains unclear. By combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments of cerebrovascular pathology and MTL structure with clinical polysomnography and assessment of overnight emotional memory retention in older adults at risk for AD, cerebrovascular pathology in fronto-parietal brain regions was shown to statistically mediate the relationship between OSA-related hypoxemia, particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and entorhinal cortical thickness. Reduced entorhinal cortical thickness was, in turn, associated with impaired overnight retention in mnemonic discrimination ability across emotional valences for high similarity lures. These findings identify cerebrovascular pathology as a contributing mechanism linking hypoxemia to MTL degeneration and impaired sleep-dependent memory in older adults.

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Abstract

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