Vascular Risks Linked to Brain Health and Cognitive Decline – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study reveals that brain topological resilience (BTR) negatively correlates with age and vascular risk factors while positively correlating with cognitive function. Researchers analyzed data from two multi-ethnic cohorts, finding that lower BTR is associated with cognitive decline. This study suggests BTR as a significant marker for assessing brain health impacted by vascular risks and atherosclerosis.

Key Facts:

1. Lower BTR correlates with age and higher vascular risk factors.
2. Higher BTR is linked to better cognitive function.
3. BTR serves as a potential biomarker for brain health and cognitive decline.

Source: Science China Press

Existing research indicates that cognitive impairment in late life is the result of a sequence of life-long events, with vascular risk factors playing a crucial role in this process. It is important to develop biomarkers that can detect the early effect of vascular risk factors on the brain.

Brain connectomes introduce integrated-perspective-based measures to quantify and analyze cerebral changes, thereby providing potential biomarkers. However, currently, there is no large-sized, cross-racial database analysis in this field.

This study investigated the relationship between brain topological resilience (BTR), aging, vascular risk factors, atherosclerosis, and cognition in middle-aged and older adults.

Two independent, multi-ethnic, community-based cohorts were utilized in this study: the PolyvasculaR Evaluation for Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Events (PRECISE) database and the MAS database.

Brain structural networks were constructed based on the Brainetome template and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) data. A combination of k-shell decomposition and node degree centrality was employed to determine the order of targeted attack nodes.

The obtained BTR values were then analyzed to determine associations with age, vascular risk factors (VRF), atherosclerosis (AS), and cognition. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the directed relationships among these variables.

In the PRECISE cohort, BTR exhibited a negative correlation with age (R = -0.342, P ) and a positive correlation with cognition (measured by MoCA scores, R = 0.174, P = 2.22×10-16). This outcome was also validated in the MAS cohort, where it was negatively correlated with age (R = -0.173, P = 0.003) and positively correlated with global cognition scores (R = 0.258, P = 2.74×10-5) and MMSE (R = 0.185, P = 0.003).

Significant and negative correlations were found between BTR and both weighted VRF (R = -0.109, P = 2.51×10-7) and AS scores (R = -0.131, P = 6.25×10-10) in the PRECISE cohort. In the MAS cohort, there was a negative correlation between BTR and weighted VRF scores (R = -0.187, P = 0.004).

Results of SEM analyses showed that the controlling effect of volume, the pathways from age (standardized Β = -0.255, FDR-corrected P ), weighted VRF (standardized Β = -0.050, FDR-corrected P = 0.031) and weighted AS (standardized Β=-0.047, FDR-corrected P = 0.042) to BTR were statistically significant. The path from BTR to MoCA score was also significant (standardized Β=0.051, FDR-corrected P = 0.039).

In summary, this study integrated neuroimaging and network science methods to propose a brain topological resilience (BTR) metric that reflects the robustness of the brain.

Furthermore, this study investigated whether variables such as aging, vascular risk factors, and atherosclerosis lead to cognitive decline by affecting BTR. SEM supported pathways in which BTR mediated the effect of aging and atherosclerosis on cognition, even after controlling for the effects of brain volume. This study suggested that BTR is a significant marker that reflects the effect of risk factors on cognition.

The results indicated that combining vascular risk factors, atherosclerosis, cognitive function, and this multidisciplinary measure offers a valuable and practical measure for assessing and improving brain health.

About this cognition and brain health research news

Author: Bei Yan
Source: Science China Press
Contact: Bei Yan – Science China Press
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Exploring the link between brain topological resilience and cognitive performance in the context of aging and vascular risk factors: A cross-ethnicity population-based study” by Tao Liu et al. Science Bulletin

Abstract

Exploring the link between brain topological resilience and cognitive performance in the context of aging and vascular risk factors: A cross-ethnicity population-based study

Brain aging is typically associated with a significant decline in cognitive performance. Vascular risk factors (VRF) and subsequent atherosclerosis (AS) play a major role in this process.

Brain resilience reflects the brain’s ability to withstand external perturbations, but the relationship of brain resilience with cognition during the aging process remains unclear.

Here, we investigated how brain topological resilience (BTR) is associated with cognitive performance in the face of aging and vascular risk factors.

We used data from two cross-ethnicity community cohorts, PolyvasculaR Evaluation for Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Events (PRECISE, n = 2220) and Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS, n = 246).

We conducted an attack simulation on brain structural networks based on k-shell decomposition and node degree centrality.

BTR was defined based on changes in the size of the largest subgroup of the network during the simulation process. Subsequently, we explored the negative correlations of BTR with age, VRF, and AS, and its positive correlation with cognitive performance.

Furthermore, using structural equation modeling (SEM), we constructed path models to analyze the directional dependencies among these variables, demonstrating that aging, AS, and VRF affect cognition by disrupting BTR. Our results also indicated the specificity of this metric, independent of brain volume.

Overall, these findings underscore the supportive role of BTR on cognition during aging and highlight its potential application as an imaging marker for objective assessment of brain cognitive performance.