Tripartite Relationship Among Synaptic, Amyloid, and Tau Proteins An In Vivo and Postmortem Study

• Objective To test the hypothesis that fundamental relationships along the amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration (A/T/N) cascade depend on synaptic integrity in older adults in vivo and postmortem. Methods The 2 independent observational, cross-sectional cohorts included (1) in vivo community-dwelling, clinically normal adults from the University of California, San Francisco Memory and Aging Center who completed lumbar puncture and MRI (exclusion criteria, Clinical Dementia Rating score >0) and (2) postmortem decedents from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (exclusion criteria, inability to sign informed consent). In vivo measures included CSF synaptic proteins (synaptotagmin-1, synaptosome associated protein-25, neurogranin, and growth associated protein-43), beta-amyloid (A beta(42/40)), tau phosphorylated at amino acid 181 (ptau(181)), and MRI gray matter volume (GMV). Postmortem measures captured brain tissue levels of presynaptic proteins (complexin-I, complexin-II, vesicle associated membrane protein (VAMP), and SNARE complex) and neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) counts. Regression models tested statistical moderation of synaptic protein levels along the A/T/N cascade (synaptic proteins x amyloid on tau, and synaptic proteins x tau on GMV). Results Sixty-eight in vivo older adults (age 71 years, 43% female) and 633 decedents (age 90 years, 68% female, 34% clinically normal) were included. Each in vivo CSF synaptic protein moderated the relationship between A beta(42/40) and ptau(181) (-0.23 < beta < -0.12, p < 0.05) and the relationship between ptau(181) and GMV (-0.49

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Neurologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Neurology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

alzheimers-disease

memory

beta

decline

neurogranin

resilience

Neurosciences & Neurology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)