The correlation between neuropathology levels and cognitive performance in centenarians
Meng Zhang (TU Delft - Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Andrea B. Ganz (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Susan Rohde (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Linda Lorenz (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Annemieke J.M. Rozemuller (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience)
Marcel Reinders (TU Delft - Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics)
M. Hulsman (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, TU Delft - Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics)
Jeroen J.M. Hoozemans (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Henne Holstege (Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
G.B. More authors (External organisation)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Neuropathological substrates associated with neurodegeneration occur in brains of the oldest old. How does this affect cognitive performance?. METHODS: The 100-plus Study is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of centenarians who self-report to be cognitively healthy; post mortem brain donation is optional. In 85 centenarian brains, we explored the correlations between the levels of 11 neuropathological substrates with ante mortem performance on 12 neuropsychological tests. RESULTS: Levels of neuropathological substrates varied: we observed levels up to Thal-amyloid beta phase 5, Braak-neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) stage V, Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD)-neuritic plaque score 3, Thal-cerebral amyloid angiopathy stage 3, Tar-DNA binding protein 43 (TDP-43) stage 3, hippocampal sclerosis stage 1, Braak-Lewy bodies stage 6, atherosclerosis stage 3, cerebral infarcts stage 1, and cerebral atrophy stage 2. Granulovacuolar degeneration occurred in all centenarians. Some high performers had the highest neuropathology scores. DISCUSSION: Only Braak-NFT stage and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) pathology associated significantly with performance across multiple cognitive domains. Of all cognitive tests, the clock-drawing test was particularly sensitive to levels of multiple neuropathologies.
help_outline