AUTHOR=Kagerer Sonja M. , Schroeder Clemens , van Bergen Jiri M. G. , Schreiner Simon J. , Meyer Rafael , Steininger Stefanie C. , Vionnet Laetitia , Gietl Anton F. , Treyer Valerie , Buck Alfred , Pruessmann Klaas P. , Hock Christoph , Unschuld Paul G. 

TITLE=Low Subicular Volume as an Indicator of Dementia-Risk Susceptibility in Old Age

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.811146

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2022.811146

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Hippocampal atrophy is an established Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) biomarker. Volume loss in specific subregions as measurable with ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may reflect earliest pathological alterations.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Data from positron emission tomography (PET) for estimation of cortical amyloid β (Aβ) and high-resolution 7 Tesla T1 MRI for assessment of hippocampal subfield volumes were analyzed in 61 non-demented elderly individuals who were divided into risk-categories as defined by high levels of cortical Aβ and low performance in standardized episodic memory tasks.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>High cortical Aβ and low episodic memory interactively predicted subicular volume [<italic>F</italic>(3,57) = 5.90, <italic>p</italic> = 0.018]. The combination of high cortical Aβ and low episodic memory was associated with significantly lower subicular volumes, when compared to participants with high episodic memory (<italic>p</italic> = 0.004).</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Our results suggest that low subicular volume is linked to established indicators of AD risk, such as increased cortical Aβ and low episodic memory. Our data support subicular volume as a marker of dementia-risk susceptibility in old-aged non-demented persons.</p></sec>