Tau and β-Amyloid Are Associated with Medial Temporal Lobe Structure, Function, and Memory Encoding in Normal Aging
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Helen Wills Neuroscience Inst.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Helen Wills Neuroscience Inst.; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging
Normal aging is associated with a decline in episodic memory and also with aggregation of the β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau proteins and atrophy of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures crucial to memory formation. Although some evidence suggests that Aβ is associated with aberrant neural activity, the relationships among these two aggregated proteins, neural function, and brain structure are poorly understood. Using in vivo human Aβ and tau imaging, we demonstrate that increased Aβ and tau are both associated with aberrant fMRI activity in the MTL during memory encoding in cognitively normal older adults. This pathological neural activity was in turn associated with worse memory performance and atrophy within the MTL. A mediation analysis revealed that the relationship with regional atrophy was explained by MTL tau. These findings broaden the concept of cognitive aging to include evidence of Alzheimer’s disease-related protein aggregation as an underlying mechanism of age-related memory impairment.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1393136
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Neuroscience, Journal Name: Journal of Neuroscience Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 37; ISSN 0270-6474
- Publisher:
- Society for Neuroscience
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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