Functional and anatomical memory indices in patients with or at risk for Alzheimer's disease

We investigated the sensitivity of the P300 event-related brain potential (ERP) recorded during a memory-demanding task to memory function in subjects with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and normal elderly controls. We also explored the ability of neuropsychological (delayed verbal memory), neuroanatomical (MRI-based hippocampal volume), and electrophysiological (memory search P300 amplitude) memory measures to distinguish between the three subject groups using discriminant function analyses. Fourteen patients with DAT, 16 with MCI, and 15 age- and education-matched controls were tested. P300 amplitude was reduced in DAT subjects at all levels of memory load; however, it did not differ between MCI and control subjects. Delayed verbal memory performance best discriminated DAT from MCI and control subjects, while delayed verbal memory and hippocampal volume best discriminated MCI subjects from controls. These results support the utility of neuropsychological and neuroanatomical measures in diagnosing dementia and do not support the notion that P300 amplitude is sensitive to mild memory dysfunction when measured using the current task.