Functional Connectivity of the Locus Coeruleus Identifies Individuals at Familial Risk for Alzheimer's Disease

DEL CERRO, I.; VILLARREAL, M.F.; ABULAFIA, C.; DUARTE-ABRITTA, B.; SÁNCHEZ, S.M.; CASTRO, M.N.; BOCACCIO, H.; FERRER, I.; MENCHÓN, J.M.; SEVLEVER, G.; SORIANO-MAS, C.; GUINJOAN, S.M.

Chicago

Conferencia; SOBP 74th Annual Scientific Convention and Meeting; 2019

Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP)

BackgroundPrevention and early treatment strategies for Alzheimer´s Disease (AD) are hampered by the lack of risk biomarkers. Neuropathological changes in the Locus Coeruleus (LC) are detected early in AD, and noradrenaline plays a neuroprotective role in LC projecting areas. We assessed functional connectivity (FC) of the brainstem in asymptomatic individuals at familial risk for AD hypothesizing that FC of the LC will be decreased in relation to not-at-risk individuals.MethodsThirty-one offspring of patients with late-onset AD (O-LOAD) (22 females; mean age±SD=50.36±8.32) and 28 controls (20 females; mean age±SD=53.90±8.44) underwent a neuropsychological evaluation and a resting-state functional MRI acquisition. In FC analyses we evaluated whole-brain global connectivity of the brainstem area, and subsequently assessed seed-to-voxel FC patterns from regions showing between-group differences.ResultsO-LOAD individuals scored worse in the MMSE and RAVLT verbal recognition and delayed recall (pFDR