Cortical Thickness, Brain Metabolic Activity, and In Vivo Amyloid Deposition in Asymptomatic, Middle-Aged Offspring of Patients with Late-Onset Alzheimer´s Disease.

Publication date: Available online 5 October 2018Source: Journal of Psychiatric ResearchAuthor(s): Bárbara Duarte-Abritta, Mirta F. Villarreal, Carolina Abulafia, David Loewenstein, Rosie E. Curiel Cid, Mariana N. Castro, Ezequiel Surace, Stella-Maris Sánchez, Daniel E. Vigo, Silvia Vázquez, Charles B. Nemeroff, Gustavo Sevlever, Salvador M. GuinjoanAbstractThe natural history of preclinical late-onset Alzheimer´s disease (LOAD) remains obscure and has received less attention than that of early-onset AD (EOAD), in spite of accounting for more than 99% of cases of AD. With the purpose of detecting early structural and functional traits associated with the disorder, we sought to characterize cortical thickness and subcortical grey matter volume, cerebral metabolism, and amyloid deposition in persons at risk for LOAD in comparison with a similar group without family history of AD. We obtained 3T T1 images for gray matter volume, FDG-PET to evaluate regional cerebral metabolism, and PET-PiB to detect fibrillar amyloid deposition in 30 middle-aged, asymptomatic, cognitively normal individuals with one parent diagnosed with LOAD (O-LOAD), and 25 comparable controls (CS) without family history of neurodegenerative disorders (CS). We observed isocortical thinning in AD-relevant areas including posterior cingulate, precuneus, and areas of the prefrontal and temporoparietal cortex in O-LOAD. Unexpectedly, this group displayed increased cerebral metabolism, in some cases overlapping...

Source: Journal of Psychiatric Research - October 6, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research