Hippocampal volumes are important predictors for memory function in elderly women.
BACKGROUND
Normal aging involves a decline in cognitive function that has been shown to correlate with volumetric change in the hippocampus, and with genetic variability in the APOE-gene. In the present study we utilize 3D MR imaging, genetic analysis and assessment of verbal memory function to investigate relationships between these factors in a sample of 170 healthy volunteers (age range 46-77 years).


METHODS
Brain morphometric analysis was performed with the automated segmentation work-flow implemented in FreeSurfer. Genetic analysis of the APOE genotype was determined with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on DNA from whole-blood. All individuals were subjected to extensive neuropsychological testing, including the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT). To obtain robust and easily interpretable relationships between explanatory variables and verbal memory function we applied the recent method of conditional inference trees in addition to scatterplot matrices and simple pairwise linear least-squares regression analysis.


RESULTS
APOE genotype had no significant impact on the CVLT results (scores on long delay free recall, CVLT-LD) or the ICV-normalized hippocampal volumes. Hippocampal volumes were found to decrease with age and a right-larger-than-left hippocampal asymmetry was also found. These findings are in accordance with previous studies. CVLT-LD score was shown to correlate with hippocampal volume. Multivariate conditional inference analysis showed that gender and left hippocampal volume largely dominated predictive values for CVLT-LD scores in our sample. Left hippocampal volume dominated predictive values for females but not for males. APOE genotype did not alter the model significantly, and age was only partly influencing the results.


CONCLUSIONS
Gender and left hippocampal volumes are main predictors for verbal memory function in normal aging. APOE genotype did not affect the results in any part of our analysis.
Ystad
Martin A
MA
Department of Biomedicine, Neuroinformatics and Image Analysis Laboratory, University of Bergen, Jonas Lies vei 91, 5009 Bergen, Norway. martin.ystad@biomed.uib.no
Lundervold
Astri J
AJ
Wehling
Eike
E
Espeseth
Thomas
T
Rootwelt
Helge
H
Westlye
Lars Tjelta
LT
Andersson
Martin
M
Adolfsdottir
Steinunn
S
Geitung
Jonn Terje
JT
Fjell
Anders M
AM
Reinvang
Ivar
I
Lundervold
Arvid
A
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
D001057:Apolipoproteins E
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