IMR Press / JIN / Volume 22 / Issue 6 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2206152
Open Access Original Research
Neuroanatomical Correlates of Cognitive Tests in Young-onset MCI
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1 Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
2 Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center (CREAGEN), Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
3 Medical Physics Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena, 41125 Modena, Italy
4 Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, Arcispedale S. Maria Nuova di Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
5 Neurology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena, 41125 Modena, Italy
*Correspondence: chiara.carbone@unimore.it (Chiara Carbone)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2023, 22(6), 152; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2206152
Submitted: 26 June 2023 | Revised: 8 September 2023 | Accepted: 26 September 2023 | Published: 30 October 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous condition characterised by cognitive changes that do not affect everyday functioning and may represent a predementia phase. Research on the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive tests used to diagnose MCI is heterogeneous and has mainly focused on elderly populations of patients with MCI, usually well above the age of 65. However, the effect of ageing on brain structure is known to be substantial and to affect brain-behaviour associations in older people. We explored the brain correlates of different cognitive tests in a group of young-onset MCI (i.e., with symptoms onset before the age of 65) to minimise the effect of ageing on brain-behaviour associations. Methods: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of young-onset MCI underwent extensive cognitive assessment and multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) including high-resolution T1-weighted and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) sequences. Their scores on cognitive tests were related to measures of grey matter (GM) density and white matter (WM) integrity using, respectively, Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) and Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). Results: 104 young-onset MCI were recruited. VBM and TBSS whole-brain correlational analyses showed that between-subject variability in cognitive performance was significantly associated with regional variability in GM density and WM integrity. While associations between cognitive scores and focal GM density in our young-onset MCI group reflected the well-known lateralization of verbal and visuo-spatial abilities on the left and right hemispheres respectively, the associations between cognitive scores and WM microstructural integrity were widespread and diffusely involved most of the WM tracts in both hemispheres. Conclusions: We investigated the structural neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive tests in young-onset MCI in order to minimise the effect of ageing on brain-behaviour associations.

Keywords
neuroanatomical correlates
young-onset MCI
mild cognitive impairment
MRI
DTI
VBM
TBSS
cognitive tests
brain-behaviour associations
behavioural neurology
Funding
Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018-2022
101042625/European Union ERC, UnaWireD
Figures
Fig. 1.
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