Cerebrospinal fluid levels of synaptic and neuronal integrity correlate with gray matter volume and amyloid load in the precuneus of cognitively intact older adults

Schaeverbeke, Jolien; Gille, Benjamin; Adamczuk, Katarzyna; Vanderstichele, Hugo; Chassaing, Emeric; Bruffaerts, Rose; Neyens, Veerle; Stoops, Erik; Tournoy, Jos; Vandenberghe, Rik; Poesen, Koen

doi:10.1111/JNC.14680

Title

Cerebrospinal fluid levels of synaptic and neuronal integrity correlate with gray matter volume and amyloid load in the precuneus of cognitively intact older adults

Author

Schaeverbeke, Jolien

Gille, Benjamin

Adamczuk, Katarzyna

Vanderstichele, Hugo

Chassaing, Emeric

Bruffaerts, Rose

Neyens, Veerle

Stoops, Erik

Tournoy, Jos

Vandenberghe, Rik

Poesen, Koen

Abstract

The main pathophysiological alterations of Alzheimer's disease (AD) include loss of neuronal and synaptic integrity, amyloidogenic processing, and neuroinflammation. Similar alterations can, however, also be observed in cognitively intact older subjects and may prelude the clinical manifestation of AD. The objectives of this prospective cross-sectional study in a cohort of 38 cognitively intact older adults were twofold: (i) to investigate the latent relationship among cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers reflecting the main pathophysiological processes of AD, and (ii) to assess the correlation between these biomarkers and gray matter volume as well as amyloid load. All subjects underwent extensive neuropsychological examinations, CSF sampling, [F-18]-flutemetamol amyloid positron emission tomography, and T-1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. A factor analysis revealed one factor that explained most of the variance in the CSF biomarker dataset clustering t-tau, alpha-synuclein, p-tau(181), neurogranin, BACE1, visinin-like protein 1, chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40), A beta(1-40) and A beta(1-38). Higher scores on this factor correlated with lower gray matter volume and with higher amyloid load in the precuneus. At the level of individual CSF biomarkers, levels of visinin-like protein 1, neurogranin, BACE1, A beta(1-40), A beta(1-38,) and YKL-40 all correlated inversely with gray matter volume of the precuneus. These findings demonstrate that in cognitively intact older subjects, CSF levels of synaptic and neuronal integrity biomarkers, amyloidogenic processing and measures of innate immunity (YKL-40) display a latent structure of common variance, which is associated with loss of structural integrity of brain regions implicated in the earliest stages of AD. Open Science Badges This article has received a badge for *Open Materials* because it provided all relevant information to reproduce the study in the manuscript, and for *Preregistration* because the study was pre-registered at . The complete Open Science Disclosure form for this article can be found at the end of the article. More information about the Open Practices badges can be found at .

Language

English

Source (journal)

Journal of neurochemistry. - Oxford

Publication

Oxford : 2019

ISSN

0022-3042

DOI

10.1111/JNC.14680

Volume/pages

149 :1 (2019) , p. 139-157