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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1461556
This article is part of the Research Topic The Open Challenges of Cognitive Frailty: Risk Factors, Neuropsychological Profiles and Psychometric Assessment for Healthy Aging View all 6 articles

Elevated circulating levels of GFAP associated with reduced volumes in hippocampal subregions linked to mild cognitive impairment among community-dwelling elderly individuals

Provisionally accepted
Ying Zhang Ying Zhang 1Jun Wang Jun Wang 2Zhang Haibo Zhang Haibo 3Zhenkun Tan Zhenkun Tan 1Yingyan Zheng Yingyan Zheng 4Ping Junjiao Ping Junjiao 3JIE ZHANG JIE ZHANG 3Jiali Luo Jiali Luo 3Linsen Li Linsen Li 3Liming Lu Liming Lu 5Xinxia Liu Xinxia Liu 1*
  • 1 Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
  • 2 Zhongshan Torch Development Zone People's Hospital, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan City, Zhongshan, China
  • 4 Other, Guangdong, China
  • 5 Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers are challenging to use for diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in large populations, and there is an urgent need for new blood biomarkers. The aim of this study is to investigate whether astrocyte activation is correlated with hippocampal atrophy, and to assess the potential of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a biomarker for diagnosing MCI among community-dwelling older individuals. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 107 older adults. The levels of GFAP in serum were measured, and the volumetric assessment of grey matter within hippocampal subregions was conducted using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM). The relationship between hippocampal subregion volume and blood biomarkers were analyzed using partial correlation. The effectiveness of blood biomarkers in differentiating MCI was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: We found that serum GFAP levels were significantly elevated in the MCI group compared to the cognitively normal (CN) group. Additionally, individuals with MCI exhibited a reduction gray matter volume in specific hippocampal subregions. Notably, the right dentate gyrus (DG) and right cornu ammonis (CA) subregions were found to be effective for distinguishing MCI patients from CN individuals. Serum levels of GFAP demonstrate a sensitivity of 65.9% and a specificity of 75.6% in differentiating patients with MCI from CN individuals. Conclusion: Specific atrophy within hippocampal subregions has been observed in the brains of community-dwelling elderly individuals. Elevated levels of circulating GFAP may serve as a sensitive peripheral biomarker indicative of hippocampal-specific cognitive alterations in patients with MCI.

    Keywords: Mild Cognitive Impairment, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, Hippocampus subfield, voxel-based morphometry, Community

    Received: 14 Jul 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Haibo, Tan, Zheng, Junjiao, ZHANG, Luo, Li, Lu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xinxia Liu, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China

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