Correlation of iron in the hippocampus with MMSE in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the brain iron deposits in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy age-matched controls using phase imaging. Materials and Methods:Twenty-six AD patients and 24 healthy controls were recruited. A three-dimensional highresolution, gradient-echo sequence was used to acquire phase data in the coronal plane. A high-pass filter was used to remove the phase variation caused by field inhomogeneity. The regions evaluated included the bilateral putamen, globus pallidus, and the head and body of the hippocampus.Results: Significantly lower phase values in both the basal ganglion and hippocampus were revealed in the AD group compared to the normal controls (P Ͻ 0.05). The phase value in the right side of the head of the hippocampus had a moderate positive correlation with the MMSE score (rϭ 0.603, P ϭ 0.000) and a negative correlation with the duration of the disease (r ϭ Ϫ0.677, P ϭ 0.013). Using Ϫ0.0972 radians as an optimal cutoff value, the sensitivity and specificity for differentiation between AD and normal controls reached 95.8 and 80.8%, respectively. Conclusion:Phase imaging proved to be a useful method for the differentiation between normal controls and AD patients. An investigation of the excessive accumulation of iron in the hippocampus may help us better understand the pathologic process and neuropsychological dysfunction of AD disease.

Redox Proteomics in Selected Neurodegenerative Disorders: From Its Infancy to Future Applications

“…Further, the iron transport protein TF functions were also reported to be disrupted in AD (108). AD hippocampus showed a moderate positive correlation with mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores, and a negative correlation with the duration of the disease for iron using phase imaging (127). A recent study showed that APP protein possesses ferroxidase activity, can catalytically oxidize Fe(2 + ), and has a major interaction with ferroportin.…”

Memory-rescuing effects of cannabidiol in an animal model of cognitive impairment relevant to neurodegenerative disorders

“…Remarkably, recent studies have shown that iron content in brain regions has been positively correlated with poorer performance in cognitive testing in Alzheimer's patients (Ding et al 2009). In addition, redox-active iron levels in the cerebrospinal fluid increased with the degree of cognitive impairment from normal to MCI subjects (Lavados et al 2008).…”

No Genetic Overlap Between Circulating Iron Levels and Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Dysfunctional brain iron homeostasis is believed to play an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) [3]. Iron accumulation is seen in the AD postmortem brain [4] and iron content correlates with disease duration and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score [5,6]. Individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with high risk of AD, showed higher cortical iron in vivo using MRI (measured using quantitative susceptibility mapping techniques), which spatially co-localized with A␤ plaques and correlated with higher plaque load [7].…”