Vascular determinants of hippocampal viscoelastic properties in healthy adults across the lifespan

Sanjana, Faria, Delgorio, Peyton L., DeConne, Theodore M., Hiscox, Lucy V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6296-7442, Pohlig, Ryan T., Johnson, Curtis L. and Martens, Christopher R. 2023. Vascular determinants of hippocampal viscoelastic properties in healthy adults across the lifespan. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 43 (11) , pp. 1931-1941. 10.1177/0271678X231186571

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Abstract

Arterial stiffness and cerebrovascular pulsatility are non-traditional risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease. However, there is a gap in understanding the earliest mechanisms that link these vascular determinants to brain aging. Changes to mechanical tissue properties of the hippocampus (HC), a brain structure essential for memory encoding, may reflect the impact of vascular dysfunction on brain aging. We tested the hypothesis that arterial stiffness and cerebrovascular pulsatility are related to HC tissue properties in healthy adults across the lifespan. Twenty-five adults underwent measurements of brachial blood pressure (BP), large elastic artery stiffness, middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (MCAv PI), and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), a sensitive measure of HC viscoelasticity. Individuals with higher carotid pulse pressure (PP) exhibited lower HC stiffness (β = −0.39, r = −0.41, p = 0.05), independent of age and sex. Collectively, carotid PP and MCAv PI significantly explained a large portion of the total variance in HC stiffness (adjusted R2 = 0.41, p = 0.005) in the absence of associations with HC volumes. These cross-sectional findings suggest that the earliest reductions in HC tissue properties are associated with alterations in vascular function.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher:	Sage
ISSN:	0271-678X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 August 2023
Date of Acceptance:	18 June 2023
Last Modified:	19 Dec 2023 16:42
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160438

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