Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Apr 2021)

Effects of APOE ε2 on the Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Study Based on the Resting-State Functional MRI

  • Xiaocao Liu,
  • Qingze Zeng,
  • Xiao Luo,
  • Kaicheng Li,
  • Hui Hong,
  • Shuyue Wang,
  • Xiaojun Guan,
  • Jingjing Wu,
  • Ruiting Zhang,
  • Tianyi Zhang,
  • Zheyu Li,
  • Yanv Fu,
  • Tao Wang,
  • Chao Wang,
  • Xiaojun Xu,
  • Peiyu Huang,
  • Minming Zhang,
  • for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.591347
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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BackgroundApolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2 is a protective genetic factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the potential interaction effects between the APOE ε2 allele and disease status on the intrinsic brain activity remain elusive.MethodsWe identified 73 healthy control (HC) with APOE ε3/ε3, 61 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects with APOE ε3/ε3, 24 HC with APOE ε2/ε3, and 10 MCI subjects with APOE ε2/ε3 from the ADNI database. All subjects underwent a resting-state functional MRI and Fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). We used a fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) to explore the spontaneous brain activity. Based on the mixed-effects analysis, we explored the interaction effects between the APOE ε2 allele versus disease status on brain activity and metabolism in a voxel-wise fashion (GRF corrected, p < 0.01), followed by post hoc two-sample t-tests (Bonferroni corrected, p < 0.05). We then investigated the relationship between the mean imaging metrics and cognitive abilities.ResultsThere are no significant differences in gender, age, or education among the four groups. The interaction effect on brain activity was located in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Post hoc analysis showed that APOE ε2/ε3 MCI had an increased IPL fALFF than APOE ε3/ε3 MCI. Regarding the APOE ε2 allele effects, we found that ε2 carriers had a decreased fALFF in the transverse temporal gyrus than non-carriers. Also, FDG-PET results showed a lower SUVR of the frontal lobe in APOE ε2 carriers than non-carriers. Furthermore, fALFF of IPL was correlated with the visuospatial function (r = −0.16, p < 0.05).ConclusionAPOE ε2 carriers might have a better brain reservation when coping with AD-related pathologies.

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