Relationship between cognitive and sleep–wake variables in asymptomatic offspring of patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease

Early neuropathological changes characteristic of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) involve brain stem and limbic structures that regulate neurovegetative functions, including sleep-wake rhythm. Indeed, sleep pattern is an emerging biomarker and a potential pathophysiological mechanism in L...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Abulafia, Carolina Andrea, Duarte Abritta, Bárbara, Villarreal, Mirta Fabiana, Ladrón de Guevara, Maria Soledad, Garcia, Maria Celeste, Sequeyra, Geraldine, Sevlever, Gustavo, Fiorentini, Leticia, Bär, Karl-Jürgen, Gustafson, Deborah, Vigo, Daniel Eduardo, Guinjoan, Salvador Martín
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/54307
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/54307
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:ACTIGRAPHY
CARDIAC AUTONOMIC CONTROL
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
EARLY DIAGNOSIS
LATE-ONSET ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3
Descripción
Sumario:Early neuropathological changes characteristic of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) involve brain stem and limbic structures that regulate neurovegetative functions, including sleep-wake rhythm. Indeed, sleep pattern is an emerging biomarker and a potential pathophysiological mechanism in LOAD. We hypothesized that cognitively asymptomatic, middle-aged offspring of patients with LOAD (O-LOAD) would display a series of circadian rhythm abnormalities prior to the onset of objective cognitive alterations. We tested 31 children of patients with LOAD (O-LOAD) and 19 healthy individuals without family history of Alzheimer's disease (control subjects, CS) with basic tests of cognitive function, as well as actigraphy measures of sleep-wake rhythm, cardiac autonomic function, and bodily temperature. Unexpectedly, O-LOAD displayed subtle but significant deficits in verbal episodic memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test delayed recall 10.6 ± 0.4 vs. 8.6 ± 0.6, t = 4.97, df = 49, p < 0.01) and language (Weschler's vocabulary 51.4 ± 1.3 vs. 44.3 ± 1.5, t = 2.49, df = 49, p < 0.001) compared to CS, even though all participants had results within the clinically normal range. O-LOAD showed a phase-delayed rhythm of body temperature (2.56 ± 0.47 h vs. 3.8 ± 0.26 h, t = 2.48, df = 40, p = 0.031). Cognitive performance in O-LOAD was associated with a series of cardiac autonomic sleep-wake variables; specifically indicators of greater sympathetic activity at night were related to poorer cognition. The present results suggest sleep pattern deserves further study as a potential neurobiological signature in LOAD, even in middle-aged, at risk individuals.