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P4‐216: Overview and preliminary results of the 3 LM‐AD study: Comparison of 3 Learning techniques in Alzheimer disease
Author(s) -
Dechamps Arnaud,
Marcel Olde Rikkert,
Fasotti Luciano,
Robert Philippe,
Kessels Roy
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.05.2239
Subject(s) - activities of daily living , psychology , dementia , alzheimer's disease , intervention (counseling) , memantine , memory impairment , acetylcholinesterase , cognition , cognitive psychology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , neuroscience , disease , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry , enzyme
ously, we have shown that intranasal insulin improves cognition and adaptive functioning for patients with memory impairments. Notably, animal and human data indicate that women may be more sensitive to insulin’s beneficial effect on the CNS. In the current study, we examine sex differences in treatment-response to intranasal insulin in a memory impaired population. Methods: Participants diagnosed with AD or amnestic MCI (N 1⁄4 104) were randomized to receive placebo or intranasal insulin (20IU or 40IU bid) for four months. A cognitive battery was administered at baseline, at 2 and 4 months during treatment, and 2 months after cessation. To utilize both hippocampus-dependent and non-hippocampus-dependent measures, delayed story recall and computerized Stroop tests were analyzed. Results: For the intent-totreat analysis, treatment group (placebo/20IU/40IU) and sex were entered as factors for a repeated measures analysis of covariance, with time (baseline/4-months) as the repeated measure and age and diagnosis (AD/MCI) as covariates. On delayed story recall, there was a treatment by sex interaction (p 1⁄4 0.021) in that females who were taking 20IU insulin showed improvement, but females taking placebo or 40IU insulin declined over time. Males’ performance improved in the 20IU and 40IU dose conditions, whereas the placebo group declined over time. On a computerized Stroop task, females’ reaction times improved or stayed stable relative to placebo with the 20IU and 40IU dose, respectively, whereas men did not benefit from intranasal insulin (p 1⁄4 0.025). Conclusions: Results suggest that men and women with memory problems differentially respond to intranasal insulin treatment. On memory tasks, males benefitted from both doses of intranasal insulin, whereas females only benefitted from the lower dose; On an inhibition task, females were more likely to benefit. Future studies will examine specific hormones in the CNS to explain between-sex differences. Cortisol, a hormone related to obesity that is typically higher in females, may interact with insulin to influence cognition. Research has been inconclusive regarding the role that estradiol may have, which may also interact with insulin to influence between-sex differences.