title: Sex and APOE: A memory advantage in male APOE ε4 carriers in midlife.
abstract: Short-term memory in middle-aged individuals with different APOE alleles was examined using a recently developed task which is sensitive to medial temporal lobe (MTL) damage. Individuals (age-range: 40-51 years) with ε3/ε3, ε3/ε4 and ε4/ε4 APOE genotypes (N = 60) performed a delayed estimation task with a sensitive continuous measure of report. The paradigm allowed us to measure memory for items and their locations, as well as maintenance of identity-location feature binding in memory. There was a significant gene-dosage dependent effect of the ε4 allele on performance: memory decay or forgetting was slower in ε4 carriers, as measured by localization error and after controlling for misbinding errors. Furthermore ε4 carriers made less misbinding errors. These findings were specific to male carriers only. Thus, male ε4 carriers are at a behavioral advantage in midlife on a sensitive task of short-term memory. The results would be consistent with an antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis and hightight the interaction of gender on the influence of APOE in cognition.
authors.affiliation: Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: nahid.zokaei@psy.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zokaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giehl
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sillence
authors.affiliation: Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), University of Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK; NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, ORH Trust, Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Matt J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Neville
authors.affiliation: Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), University of Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK; NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, ORH Trust, Oxford, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karpe
authors.affiliation: Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Anna C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nobre
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Masud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Husain
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; ApoE; Binding; Working memory