Obesity and Brain Vulnerability in Normal and Abnormal Aging: A Multimodal MRI Study
Manmohi D Dake1, Matteo De Marco1, Daniel J Blackburn1
1Department of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Journal of Alzheimer'S Disease Reports
|March 8, 2021
Summary
Obesity impacts brain structure differently across Alzheimer's disease stages. Maintaining a healthy weight may protect brain health in mild dementia, while obesity may harm neural integrity in earlier cognitive impairment stages.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Alzheimer's Disease Research
- Obesity and Brain Health
Background:
- The interplay between obesity and neural changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression is not well understood.
- Distinct stages of cognitive impairment, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild AD dementia, may exhibit unique relationships with obesity.
- Understanding these variations is crucial for developing targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how obesity relates to brain structure and function across different stages of cognitive decline.
- To utilize multimodal neuroimaging techniques to clarify the association between obesity and neural properties in individuals with varying cognitive health.
Main Methods:
- Multimodal neuroimaging scans (gray matter volume, white matter integrity, cerebral blood flow) were obtained from 47 mild AD dementia patients, 68 MCI patients, and 57 healthy controls.
- Voxel-wise analyses examined associations between obesity metrics (global and visceral) and neuroimaging data.
- The study compared these associations across the three cognitive groups.
Main Results:
- Cognitively healthy individuals showed negative associations between obesity and white matter integrity/cerebral blood flow in temporo-parietal regions.
- Individuals with mild cognitive impairment exhibited negative associations in frontal, temporal, and brainstem areas.
- Mild Alzheimer's disease dementia patients displayed a positive association between obesity and gray matter volume near the right temporoparietal junction.
Conclusions:
- Obesity may increase neural vulnerability in healthy individuals and those with mild cognitive impairment.
- In mild Alzheimer's disease dementia, a healthy weight might be protective, potentially counteracting age- and disease-related brain structure changes.
- These findings highlight the complex, stage-dependent role of obesity in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis.
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