Noradrenergic-dependent functions are associated with age-related locus coeruleus signal intensity differences

Liu, Kathy Y.; Kievit, Rogier A.; Tsvetanov, Kamen A.; Betts, Matthew J.; Düzel, Emrah; Rowe, James B.; Tyler, Lorraine K.; Brayne, Carol; Bullmore, Edward T.; Calder, Andrew C.; Cusack, Rhodri; Dalgleish, Tim; Duncan, John; Henson, Richard N.; Matthews, Fiona E.; Marslen-Wilson, William D.; Shafto, Meredith A.; Campbell, Karen; Cheung, Teresa; Davis, Simon; Geerligs, Linda; McCarrey, Anna; Mustafa, Abdur; Price, Darren; Samu, David; Taylor, Jason R.; Treder, Matthias; Belle, Janna van; Williams, Nitin; Bates, Lauren; Emery, Tina; Erzinçlioglu, Sharon; Gadie, Andrew; Gerbase, Sofia; Georgieva, Stanimira; Hanley, Claire; Parkin, Beth; Troy, David; Auer, Tibor; Correia, Marta; Gao, Lu; Green, Emma; Henriques, Rafael; Allen, Jodie; Amery, Gillian; Amunts, Liana; Barcroft, Anne; Castle, Amanda; Dias, Cheryl; Dowrick, Jonathan; Fair, Melissa; Fisher, Hayley; Goulding, Anna; Grewal, Adarsh; Hale, Geoff; Hilton, Andrew; Johnson, Frances; Johnston, Patricia; Kavanagh-Williamson, Thea; Kwasniew...

Abstract

The locus coeruleus (LC), the origin of noradrenergic modulation of cognitive and behavioral function, may play an important role healthy ageing and in neurodegenerative conditions. We investigated the functional significance of age-related differences in mean normalized LC signal intensity values (LC-CR) in magnetization-transfer (MT) images from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) cohort - an open-access, population-based dataset. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the pre-registered hypothesis that putatively noradrenergic (NA)-dependent functions would be more strongly associated with LC-CR in older versus younger adults. A unidimensional model (within which LC-CR related to a single factor representing all cognitive and behavioral measures) was a better fit with the data than the a priori two-factor model (within which LC-CR related to separate NA-dependent and NA-independent factors). Our findings support the concept that age-related reduction of LC structural integrity is associated with impaired cognitive and behavioral function.

Citation

Liu, K. Y., Kievit, R. A., Tsvetanov, K. A., Betts, M. J., Düzel, E., Rowe, J. B., Tyler, L. K., Brayne, C., Bullmore, E. T., Calder, A. C., Cusack, R., Dalgleish, T., Duncan, J., Henson, R. N., Matthews, F. E., Marslen-Wilson, W. D., Shafto, M. A., Campbell, K., Cheung, T., Davis, S., …Hämmerer, D. (2020). Noradrenergic-dependent functions are associated with age-related locus coeruleus signal intensity differences. Nature communications, 11(1), Article 1712. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15410-w

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 11, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 6, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 5, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 13, 2024
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 1712
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15410-w
• Keywords: Cognitive ageing; Cognitive neuroscience
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4451520