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Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Hippocampal GFAP in aging: Associations with AD and LATE-NC pathologies and cognitive decline in older adults
Sonal Agrawal1,2, Lei Yu1,3, Sue E Leurgans1,3
1Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Introduction:
Plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is an emerging biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression in clinical studies, yet the role of brain GFAP in AD/AD-related dementias (ADRD) pathologies and cognitive decline remains unclear.
Methods:
GFAP burden from CA1-subiculum of the hippocampus were quantified. Regression and mixed-effect models, adjusting for demographics and other brain pathologies examined associations between hippocampal GFAP and AD/ADRD pathologies and separately with Alzheimer's dementia and cognitive decline.
Results:
Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic changes (LATE-NC), hippocampal sclerosis of aging (HS-A), and neurofibrillary tangle density (but not amyloid-beta) were associated with GFAP burden. Hippocampal GFAP was associated with increased odds of Alzheimer's dementia and faster decline in global cognition, episodic memory, semantic memory, and perceptual speed. LATE-NC and tangles explained some but not all the association between hippocampal GFAP and cognitive decline.
Discussion:
GFAP burden in the hippocampus is related to LATE-NC and tangles but may also be an independent contributor to cognitive decline.
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