Environmental enrichment is associated with favorable memory-related functional brain activity patterns in older adults.

Background: In humans, environmental enrichment (EE), as measured by the engagement in a variety of leisure activities, has been associated with larger hippocampal structure and better memory function. The present cross-sectional study assessed whether EE during early life (13-30 years) and midlife (30-65 years) is associated with better preserved memory-related brain activity patterns in older age.

Methods: In total, 372 cognitively unimpaired older adults (aged ≥60 years old) of the DZNE-Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (DELCODE; DRKS00007966) were investigated.

Blood-based quantification of Aβ oligomers indicates impaired clearance from brain in ApoE ε4 positive subjects.

Background: Quantification of Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers in plasma enables early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and improves our understanding of underlying pathologies. However, quantification necessitates an extremely sensitive and selective technology because of very low Aβ oligomer concentrations and possible interference from matrix components.

Methods: In this report, we developed and validated a surface-based fluorescence distribution analysis (sFIDA) assay for quantification of Aβ oligomers in plasma.

Cognitive reserve against Alzheimer's pathology is linked to brain activity during memory formation.

The cognitive reserve (CR) hypothesis posits that individuals can differ in how their brain function is disrupted by pathology associated with aging and neurodegeneration. Here, we test this hypothesis in the continuum from cognitively normal to at-risk stages for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) to AD dementia using longitudinal data from 490 participants of the DELCODE multicentric observational study. Brain function is measured using task fMRI of visual memory encoding.

Perivascular space enlargement accelerates in ageing and Alzheimer's disease pathology: evidence from a three-year longitudinal multicentre study.

Background: Perivascular space (PVS) enlargement in ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the drivers of such a structural change in humans require longitudinal investigation. Elucidating the effects of demographic factors, hypertension, cerebrovascular dysfunction, and AD pathology on PVS dynamics could inform the role of PVS in brain health function as well as the complex pathophysiology of AD.

Methods: We studied PVS in centrum semiovale (CSO) and basal ganglia (BG) computationally over three to four annual visits in 503 participants (255 females; mean = 70.

Longitudinal evidence for a mutually reinforcing relationship between white matter hyperintensities and cortical thickness in cognitively unimpaired older adults.

Background: For over three decades, the concomitance of cortical neurodegeneration and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) has sparked discussions about their coupled temporal dynamics. Longitudinal studies supporting this hypothesis nonetheless remain scarce.

Methods: We applied global and regional bivariate latent growth curve modelling to determine the extent to which WMH and cortical thickness were interrelated over a four-year period.