Association of inner retinal thickness with prevalent dementia and brain atrophy in a general older population

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20972
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0906:Surgery related to the biological and sensory functions and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Ueda Emi 九州大学, 医学研究院, 助教 (30911359)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 認知症 / 網膜バイオマーカー / 網膜神経節細胞 / 光干渉断層計

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The present study demonstrated that lower GC-IPL thickness estimated by using SS-OCT was significantly associated with greater likelihood of the presence of dementia in a general older Japanese population. In the imaging analysis using VBM, we also found that lower GC-IPL thickness was significantly associated with the brain volumes of brain regions related to cognitive function as well as visual function (i.e., the lingual gyrus, cuneus, and thalamus). Similar significant associations were also observed between GC-IPL thickness and the brain volumes of the hippocampus, amygdala, cuneus, lingual gyrus, and thalamus in the automated segmentation analysis using FreeSurfer software, with the beta coefficient of association for the hippocampus being the largest. Our findings suggested that GC-IPL thickness might reflect specific brain regional alterations related to cognitive function and subsequent cognitive dysfunction.

Free Research Field

眼科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本人地域高齢住民においてSS-OCTで測定したGC-IPLの菲薄化は認知症と有意に関連した。また、脳画像データを用いたVBM解析では、GC-IPLの菲薄化は海馬、扁桃体、嗅内野、海馬傍回、舌状回、楔部、鳥距皮質、視床などの灰白質萎縮と有意に関連した。認知症者を除外した対象者でのVBM解析ではGC-IPL菲薄化は海馬萎縮と有意な関連を示した。一方、RNFLは認知症および認知機能に関わる脳部位に有意な関連は認めなかった。従って、SS-OCTを用いたGC-IPL測定は非侵襲的で簡便で再現性に優れており、認知症のハイリスク群を同定し、認知症における神経変性の過程を評価するよい指標となるかもしれない。