Premium
Resistance to tau and amyloid pathology supports super‐aging
Author(s) -
Hönig Merle C,
Willscheid Niclas,
Bischof Gerard N,
van Eimeren Thilo,
Drzezga Alexander
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.036952
Subject(s) - pittsburgh compound b , medicine , neuroimaging , amyloid (mycology) , cognitive impairment , alzheimer's disease , β amyloid , nuclear medicine , psychology , pathology , disease , psychiatry
Background Not much is known about the aging‐associated in vivo accumulation of proteinopathies such as amyloid‐β and tau‐pathology in super‐agers (i.e. individuals performing cognitively above the norm even at high age). Here, we examined the intracerebral amyloid and tau burden in a group of super‐agers (SA), normal‐agers (NA) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using PET imaging. Method Data used for analysis were retrieved from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database and included three age‐ and education‐matched groups of 26 SA, 25 NA and 25 MCI patients, all above 80 years of age. SA were defined as individuals performing above average on the ADNI memory score over a 4‐year period including the time point of the PET scan acquisition. NA presented average and MCI patients below average cognitive performance in this time period. In addition, a group of younger cognitively‐normal, amyloid‐negative controls (YA; M(Age)= 63.2 years) was included as reference. [18F]AV‐1451 (tau) and [18F]AV‐45 (amyloid) PET scans were available for all individuals. The PET scans were pre‐processed including normalization to MNI space, smoothing and intensity standardization to the cerebellum. For statistical analysis, voxel‐wise comparisons (p < .001, uncorr.) and a region‐of‐interest analysis (p<.05, FDR corr.) were conducted, comparing tau and amyloid burden between the four groups, respectively. Result No significant difference were observed between SA and YA in terms of tau and amyloid burden. The NA group exhibited higher tau burden in inferior temporal and precuneal areas and no significant differences in amyloid burden, when compared to the YA group. The MCI patients showed both relatively higher amyloid and tau pathology burden. Conclusion The phenomenon of super‐aging appears to be associated with the resistance to tau and amyloid pathology accumulation, which likely permits maintenance of high cognitive performance despite advanced age.