Alz Res Therapy: glucose metabolism in the right middle temporal lobe, which may suggest subjective cognitive decline

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents the main cause of dementia.
It is a unique pathological entity that locks in a long-term clinical incubation period and lacks disease regulation therapy
.

In the past few decades, a series of disappointing clinical trial results forced researchers to turn our attention to the preclinical stage of AD, which represents the most promising treatment window

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a state in which subjects experience continuous cognitive decline without objective damage
.

Compared with normal control group (NC) subjects, more and more evidences indicate that SCD subjects are at increased risk of decreased objective cognitive ability in the future

Screening

However, the current diagnosis of SCD is mainly based on self-perceived symptoms, and the specificity of identifying subjects at risk of future cognitive deterioration is very low
.

The research on brain function changes and imaging biomarkers of these subjects is still in its infancy, and there is an urgent need for objective indicators to improve the specificity of diagnosis

diagnosis

Glucose metabolism is an important physiological indicator that indicates the function of brain neurons
.

It has been integrated into a neurodegenerative biomarker by the latest AD diagnostic framework of the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA)

On this basis, the researchers further explored the abnormal brain glucose metabolism of SCD, and proposed that low metabolism may begin to appear in certain areas, and finally spread to the entire AD-related metabolic pattern as the neurons are gradually damaged
.

More specifically, Scheef et al.

In this way, Qiu-Yue Dong and others of Xuanwu Hospital have explored the glucose metabolism biomarkers of SCD at the ROI level, hoping to predict which SCD subjects are more likely to experience cognitive degradation in the future
.

FDGPET images are used to detect the glucose metabolism of the brain in the body

In addition, the ROC curve is used to assess the ability of potential glucose metabolism biomarkers to distinguish between different groups
.

Pearson correlation analysis was also performed to explore the correlation between glucose metabolism biomarkers and neuropsychological scales or amyloid deposits

They found that only the right middle temporal gyrus (RMTG) passed the methodological verification, its metabolic level and symptom level (R=-0.
239, p=0.
009), depression level (R=-0.
200, p=0.
030) and delayed memory ability (R=0.
207, p=0.
025) and weakly related to cortical amyloid deposition (R=-0.
246, p=0.
066)
.

In addition, the metabolism of RMTG gradually decreases throughout the cognitive process, and its diagnostic efficiency is comparable to that of the posterior cingulate cortex or precuneiform (NC vs.
ADD, aMCI, or DLB), or even better than (NC vs.
SCD)
.

These findings indicate that the low metabolism of RMTG may be a typical feature of SCD.
The large-scale low metabolism of patients with AD symptoms may start with RMTG and gradually develop from the preclinical stage
.
The specificity of identifying SCD from the perspective of subjective symptoms may be improved by detecting the metabolism of RMTG
.

The low metabolism of RMTG may be a typical feature of SCD.
The large-scale low metabolism of patients with AD symptoms may start with RMTG and gradually develop from the preclinical stage
.

Original source:
Dong QY, Li TR, Jiang XY, Wang XN, Han Y, Jiang JH.
Glucose metabolism in the right middle temporal gyrus could be a potential biomarker for subjective cognitive decline: a study of a Han population.
 Alz Res Therapy.
2021;13(1):74.
doi:10.
1186/s13195-021-00811-w

Glucose metabolism in the right middle temporal gyrus could be a potential biomarker for subjective cognitive decline: a study of a Han population.
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