Blood–brain barrier integrity is linked to cognitive function, but not to cerebral arterial pulsatility, among elderly

Abstract

Blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption may contribute to cognitive decline, but questions remain whether this association is more pronounced for certain brain regions, such as the hippocampus, or represents a whole-brain mechanism. Further, whether human BBB leakage is triggered by excessive vascular pulsatility, as suggested by animal studies, remains unknown. In a prospective cohort (N = 50; 68–84 years), we used contrast-enhanced MRI to estimate the permeability-surface area product (PS) and fractional plasma volume ($${v}_{p}$$ v p ), and 4D flow MRI to assess cerebral arterial pulsatility. Cognition was assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score. We hypothesized that high PS would be associated with high arterial pulsatility, and that links to cognition would be specific to hippocampal PS. For 15 brain regions, PS ranged from 0.38 to 0.85 (·10−3 min−1) and $${v}_{p}$$ v p from 0.79 to 1.78%. Cognition was related to PS (·10−3 min−1) in hippocampus (β = – 2.9; p = 0.006), basal ganglia (β = – 2.3; p = 0.04), white matter (β = – 2.6; p = 0.04), whole-brain (β = – 2.7; p = 0.04) and borderline-related for cortex (β = – 2.7; p = 0.076). Pulsatility was unrelated to PS for all regions (p > 0.19). Our findings suggest PS–cognition links mainly reflect a whole-brain phenomenon with only slightly more pronounced links for the hippocampus, and provide no evidence of excessive pulsatility as a trigger of BBB disruption.