Cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain mediates age-associated lower learning and memory in healthy adults
Hemminghyth, Mathilde Suhr; Chwiszczuk, Luiza; Breitve, Monica Haraldseid; Gisladottir, Berglind; Grøntvedt, Gøril Rolfseng; Nakling, Arne Exner; Rongve, Arvid; Fladby, Tormod; Kirsebom, Bjørn-Eivind Seljelid
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Published version
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3127437Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
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- Department of Clinical Medicine [2086]
- Registrations from Cristin [10237]
Originalversjon
Neurobiology of Aging. 2024, 135, 39-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.12.005Sammendrag
Multiple cognitive domains, including learning, memory, and psychomotor speed, show significant reductions with age. Likewise, several cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neurodegenerative biomarkers, including total tau (t-tau, a marker of neuronal body injury) and neurofilament light chain (NfL, a marker of axonal injury) show age-related increases in normal aging. In the current study, we aimed to investigate whether the age-effect within different cognitive domains was mediated by age-associated CSF markers for neurodegenerative changes. We fitted 10 mediation models using structural equation modeling to investigate this in a cohort of 137 healthy adults, aged 40–80 years, from the Norwegian Dementia Disease Initiation (DDI) study. Here, t-tau and NfL were defined as mediators between age and different cognitive tests. The models showed that NfL mediated the age-effect for CERAD learning and memory recall (learning: β = −0.395, p < 0.05; recall: β = −0.261, p < 0.01). No such effect was found in the other models. Our findings suggest that the age-related lower performance in verbal learning and memory may be linked to NfL-associated neurodegenerative changes in cognitively healthy adults.