Hippocampal volume and retention in Alzheimer's disease.
This study tested the hypothesis that the hippocampus has a relatively specific role in retaining information over delays. Thirty-seven subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease were evaluated with a verbal memory task and structural MRI. Cortical gray matter but not hippocampal volume predicted immediate free recall. In contrast, hippocampal volume was the best predictor of how well information was retained over a delay, even after controlling for levels of immediate recall. Results suggest that the role of the hippocampus is relatively specific to the consolidation of new memories.
Department of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco, 94143, USA. kramer@itsa.ucsf.edu
Joel H
JH
Kramer
Norbert
N
Schuff
Bruce R
BR
Reed
Dan
D
Mungas
An-Tao
AT
Du
Howard J
HJ
Rosen
William J
WJ
Jagust
Bruce L
BL
Miller
Michael W
MW
Weiner
Helena C
HC
Chui
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology