Elisenda Bueichekú, Ibai Diez, Chan-Mi Kim, John Alex Becker, Elouise A Koops, Kenneth Kwong, Kathryn V Papp, David H Salat, David A Bennett, Dorene M Rentz, Reisa A Sperling, Keith A Johnson, Jorge Sepulcre, Heidi I L Jacobs
Autopsy studies indicated that the locus coeruleus (LC) accumulates hyperphosphorylated tau before allocortical regions in Alzheimer's disease. By combining in vivo longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging measures of LC integrity, tau positron emission tomography imaging and cognition with autopsy data and transcriptomic information, we examined whether LC changes precede allocortical tau deposition and whether specific genetic features underlie LC's selective vulnerability to tau. We found that LC integrity changes preceded medial temporal lobe tau accumulation, and together these processes were associated with lower cognitive performance...
April 25, 2024: Nature aging