Summary: A fresh research has identified a marker, DTI-ALPS, which connects glymphatic system function to venous dementia. By analyzing over 3, 750 members, experts found that lower DTI-ALPS scores correlated with worse executive function, highlighting the glymphatic state’s part in clearing mental waste.
A possible link between white matter free water accumulation and cognitive decline was also found in the study. These results provide a powerful tool for medical trials and possible treatments for glymphatic function and vascular dementia, including lifestyle modifications and medications.
3 Important Facts:
- DTI-ALPS Role: DTI-ALPS ratings determine glymphatic system heath, with lower ratings linked to cognitive impairment.
- Pathway Identified: Affected glymphatic functionality may lead to complimentary water accumulation, light matter damage, and cognitive decline.
- Wide Validation: The marker was independently validated across four groups with different populations.
Origin: USC
A new study from USC’s Keck School of Medicine tested a marker for vascular dementia in four different groups and proposed a mechanism by which cognitive impairment manifests.
The studies were only published in , Alzheimer’s &, Dementia®: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Capillary memory is the second most common form of dementia following Alzheimer’s disease. It has similar symptoms, including problems with storage, decision-making and speech, and represents a significant public health concern as the global community continues to time.
Experts are unsure of the precise link between cognitive little vessel disease ( cSVD), which damages the brain’s small blood vessels, and the condition.
One principle involves issues with the glymphatic method, which assists in the removal of waste from the mind.
A team of researchers from the , Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute , ( Stevens INI), part of the , Keck School of Medicine, as well as researchers from the Biomarkers for , Vascular Contributions to , Cognitive , Impairment and , Dementia ( MarkVCID ) consortium, have found new evidence in support of that theory.
The team analyzed mental images and mental tests from a full of 3750 people using money from the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers then analyzed each person’s brains using the technique known as Diffusion Tensor Image Analysis along the Vascular Place ( or DTI-ALPS) to determine how well the glymphatic system was working in each individual based on their mind images.
The researchers found that those with lower DTI-ALPS scores even performed worse on cognitive tests when they compared the results of the mental tests.
A small DTI-ALPS report, according to the study, may be the cause of cognitive decline.
According to Danny J. J. Wang, PhD, top author of the study, professor of neuroscience and imaging, and director of creativity at the Keck School of Medicine’s Stevens INI,” we found a clear connection between DTI-ALPS and cognitive performance in all four groups, with ages ranging from middle-age to older adulthood.”
Wang and his team also looked at the variation in symptoms among research individuals to determine a possible explanation for how glymphatic issues can cause cognitive deficits.
According to Wang, their findings serve as a target for medical researchers looking to develop treatments for vascular dementia and may also prove helpful in addressing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Validating the marker
The DTI-ALPS biomarker uses magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) to measure water movement along perivascular spaces, fluid-filled regions around the brain’s blood vessels, which are a crucial component of the glymphatic system.
If experts find changes in the DTI-ALPS report, it may imply destruction and indicate that the waste certification program is certainly functioning as it should.
In the present research, Wang and his team analyzed MRI images to obtain a measure of DTI-ALPS for each student. They compared those measurements to each person’s level of professional performance, a composite score of consciousness that includes memory, interest, planning, emotion regulation and additional abilities that tend to endure as dementia progresses.  ,  ,
The researchers found that lower DTI-ALPS scores, which indicated damage to the glymphatic system, were associated with worse executive function.
That link was verified independently in four separate participant groups—from the MarkVCID consortium, the University of California, Davis, the University of California, San Francisco, and the Framingham Heart Study—with a total of 3750 participants.
According to Wang, independently verifying the DTI-ALPS biomarker in each of the four cohorts provides compelling evidence for the glymphatic system’s contribution to cSVD and vascular dementia.
The participant groups ‘ racial and ethnic diversity, as well as the age range ( ranging from 56 to 76 years of age across cohorts ), also indicate that the findings are reliable and applicable to a wider patient population.
Treatments for vascular dementia
The team moved on to the next question: Why? Once they connected issues with glymphatic function to declines in executive function.
A mediation analysis is a process or mechanism that studies how two or more variables are connected in order to learn more. In this case, they found that another biomarker —”free water” or excess water in the brain’s white matter—helped explain the link between glymphatic problems and cognitive decline.
In this potential pathway,” first waste clearance is impaired, which causes accumulation of free water in the brain’s white matter. That leads to tissue damage and eventually to cognitive impairment”, said the paper’s first author, Xiaodan Liu, MD, PhD, a former postdoctoral researcher at the USC Stevens INI, now an assistant researcher in radiology at the University of California, San Francisco.
More research, including longitudinal work, is needed to confirm whether each step in that pathway is causal. However, the team’s findings point to the robustness and readiness of the DTI-ALPS score biomarker for vascular dementia, Wang said.
Those studies could look into improving glymphatic function as a treatment for vascular dementia. According to Wang, lifestyle modifications, such as increasing exercise and improving sleep quality, are two ways to accomplish this. In addition, future studies may lead to the discovery of medications that may help.
The findings could also provide clues for how to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which has been linked to low DTI-ALPS scores in other studies.
About this research
In addition to Wang, the study’s other authors are Xiaodan Liu, Xingfeng Shao and Kay Jann from the Laboratory of fMRI Technology, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Steven Cen and John M. Ringman from the Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Pauline Maillard and Charles S. DeCarli from the University of California, Davis, Giuseppe Barisano , from Stanford University, Arvind Caprihan , from the Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hanzhang Lu from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Konstantinos Arfanakis from the Illinois Institute of Technology and Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, Brian T. Gold from the University of Kentucky, Sudha Seshadri,  , Claudia L. Satizabal and Mohamad Habes from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, Alexa S. Beiser from Boston University, Joel H. Kramer and Lara Stables , from the University of California, San Francisco, Herpreet Singh, Kristin Schwab and Steven M. Greenberg from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and Karl G. Helmer from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health]U24NS100591, UH3NS100599, UH3NS100605, UH3NS100588, UH3NS100608, UH3NS100606, UH3NS100598 and UH3NS100614]
About this research in neurology
Author: Laura LeBlanc
Source: USC
Contact: Laura LeBlanc – USC
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
” MRI free water mediates the association between executive function in four independent middle to old cohorts and diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space,” according to Danny J. J. Wang and others. Alzheimer’s &, Dementia
Abstract
In four independent middle to older cohorts, middle to age, the association between diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space and executive function is mediated by MRI free water.
INTRODUCTION
For assessing glymphatic clearance function, diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) index was proposed. DTI-ALPS was used as a biomarker for vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID ) related to cerebral small vessel disease ( cSVD ).
METHODS
Four independent cohorts were examined. A composite score of executive function ( UDS3-EF ) was used to evaluate EF status. The mediator effect of free water in white matter ( WM-FW) on such association and the ALPS index and UDS3-EF scores were examined.
RESULTS
In all cohorts, the ALPS index was strongly related to UDS3-EF scores. Additionally, WM-FW mediates the relationship between the ALPS index and UDS3-EF scores.
DISCUSSION
A clinical justification for using the ALPS index as a biomarker for cSVD-related VCID may be a substitute for the interstitial fluid ( ISF ) drainage ISF in WM, which is associated with impaired EF.
