Anatomic correlates of executive functions in Argentinian middle-aged asymptomatic offspring of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

DUARTE ABRITTA, BARBARA; ABULAFIA, CAROLINA; SANCHEZ, STELLA M; FIORENTINI, LETICIA; VIGO, DANIEL E; GUINJOAN, SALVADOR M; VILLAREAL, MIRTA F.

Simposio; Latinos & Alzheimer's Symposium; 2022

Background: Late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (LOAD) is the most common form of the disease. The most prevalent ethiopathogenic model states that pathophysiological changes begin up to 20 years prior to cognitive and functional impairment onset. Previous works have reported early anomalies in brain areas associated to executive functions (EF) in middle-aged asymptomatic offspring of patients with LOAD (O-LOAD) compared to control subjects with no AD family history (CS) (Duarte-Abritta, 2018) as well as in performance on EF tasks (Abulafia, 2019). The objective of the study is to explore structural correlates of EF in O-LOAD, compared to CS. Methods: A total of 30 O-LOAD y 25 CS between 40 and 60 years old from Buenos Aires, Argentina were recruited. The following EF tests were administered: Design Fluency, Stroop, TMT-B, Tower of London, Verbal Fluency (semantic and phonemic). Pearson correlations were performed between EF and cortical thickness (CT) derived FreeSurfer from MRI T1 imaging and processed with FreeSurfer 6 for each group. Results: Significant associations were observed only in O-LOAD. Positive correlations were observed between Design Fluency and left lateral orbitofrontal EC (r=0.545, p