نشانگرهای تائو CSF با حجم هیپوکامپ در بیماری آلزایمر ارتباط دارد

Hippocampal atrophy as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are supportive features for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are assumed to be indirect pathological markers of the disease. In AD patients, antemortem MRI hippocampal volumes (HVs) correlate with the density of neurofibrillary tangles (but not with senile plaques) at autopsy suggesting that HVs may better correlate with CSF tau and hyperphosphorylated tau (P-tau) levels than CSF amyloid beta protein (Aβ)42 level. Here, we tested this hypothesis in a well-defined AD group. Patients were selected according to the New Research Criteria for AD, including specific episodic memory deficit and CSF AD profile (defined as abnormal ratio of Aβ42:tau). MRI was performed within 6 months of lumbar puncture. HVs were obtained using automated segmentation software. Thirty-six patients were included. Left HV correlated with CSF tau (R = −0.53) and P-tau (R = −0.56) levels. Mean HVs correlated with the CSF P-tau level (R = −0.52). No correlation was found between any brain measurement and CSF Aβ42 level. The CSF tau and P-tau levels, but not the CSF Aβ42 level, correlated with HV, suggesting that CSF tau markers reflect the neuronal loss associated with the physiopathological process of AD.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), both hippocampal volumes (HVs) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau markers were associated with neurofibrillary tangles deposits: (1) antemortem HVs assessed by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetry significantly correlated with the density of neurofibrillary tangles at autopsy (Csernansky et al., 2004 and Jack et al., 2002) but not with amyloid beta protein (Aβ) plaque load (Csernansky et al., 2004), and (2) CSF tau levels correlated with the presence of neocortical neurofibrillary tangles (Tapiola et al., 2009). Therefore, levels of CSF tau and CSF hyperphosphorylated tau (P-tau) should correlate with HV. However, conflicting results have been observed in neuroimaging studies (Apostolova et al., 2010, Fagan et al., 2009, Herukka et al., 2008, Schoonenboom et al., 2008 and Thomann et al., 2009) and a recent study (Fagan et al., 2009) showed no correlation between CSF biomarkers and HV in AD patients. We wanted to analyze the correlations between CSF biomarkers and whole brain volume or HV in order to test the hypothesis that the levels of CSF tau and P-tau, but not CSF Aβ42, are associated with hippocampal atrophy in AD patients.