The Interaction of Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation and Neurovascular Coupling in Cognitive Impairment

Title:The Interaction of Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation and Neurovascular Coupling in Cognitive Impairment

Volume: 18 Issue: 14

Author(s): Lucy C. Beishon*, Kannakorn Intharakham*, Victoria J. Haunton, Thompson G. Robinson and Ronney B. Panerai

Affiliation:

• Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

• Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Keywords: Autoregulation index, dementia, cognitive impairment, healthy older adults, cerebral blood flow, cognition.

Abstract:

Background: Dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA) remains intact in both ageing and dementia, but studies of neurovascular coupling (NVC) have produced mixed findings.

Objective: We investigated the effects of task-activation on dCA in healthy older adults (HOA), and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

Methods: Resting and task-activated data from thirty HOA, twenty-two MCI, and thirty-four AD were extracted from a database. The autoregulation index (ARI) was determined at rest and during five cognitive tasks from transfer function analysis. NVC responses were present where group-specific thresholds of cross-correlation peak function and variance ratio were exceeded. Cumulative response rate (CRR) was the total number of positive responses across five tasks and two hemispheres.

Results: ARI differed between groups in dominant (p=0.012) and non-dominant (p=0.042) hemispheres at rest but not during task-activation (p=0.33). ARI decreased during language and memory tasks in HOA (p=0.002) but not in MCI or AD (p=0.40). There was a significant positive correlation between baseline ARI and CRR in all groups (r=0.26, p=0.018), but not within sub-groups.

Conclusion: dCA efficiency was reduced in task-activation in healthy but not cognitively impaired participants. These results indicate differences in neurovascular processing in healthy older adults relative to cognitively impaired individuals.

Cite this article as:

Beishon C. Lucy*, Intharakham Kannakorn*, Haunton J. Victoria, Robinson G. Thompson and Panerai B. Ronney, The Interaction of Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation and Neurovascular Coupling in Cognitive Impairment, Current Alzheimer Research 2021; 18 (14) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1567205019666211227102936