Abstract
Aging is associated with brain atrophy, functional brain network reorganization and decline of cognitive performance, albeit characterized by high interindividual variability. Among environmental influencing factors accounting for this variability, nutrition and particularly vitamin supply is thought to play an important role. While evidence exists that supplementation of vitamins B6 and B1 might be beneficial for cognition and brain structure, at least in deficient states and neurodegenerative diseases, little is known about this relation during healthy aging and in relation to reorganization of functional brain networks. We thus assessed the relation between blood levels of vitamins B1 and B6 and cognitive performance, cortical folding, and functional resting-state connectivity in a large sample of older adults (N > 600; age: 55–85 years), drawn from the population-based 1000BRAINS study. In addition to blood sampling, subjects underwent structural and functional resting-state neuroimaging as well as extensive neuropsychological testing in the domains of executive functions, (working) memory, attention, and language. Brain regions showing changes in the local gyrification index as calculated using FreeSurfer in relation to vitamin levels were used for subsequent seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis. For B6, a positive correlation with local cortical folding was found throughout the brain, while only slight changes in functional connectivity were observed. Contrarily, for B1, a negative correlation with cortical folding as well as problem solving and visuo-spatial working memory performance was found, which was accompanied by pronounced increases of interhemispheric and decreases of intrahemispheric functional connectivity. While the effects for B6 expand previous knowledge on beneficial effects of B6 supplementation on brain structure, they also showed that additional effects on cognition might not be recognizable in healthy older subjects with normal B6 blood levels. The cortical atrophy and pronounced functional reorganization associated with B1, contrarily, was more in line with the theory of a disturbed B1 metabolism in older adults, leading to B1 utilization deficits, and thus, an effective B1 deficiency in the brain, despite normal to high-normal blood levels.
Highlights
Aging is associated with cognitive decline as well as brain atrophy and functional brain network reorganization, in higher association cortices of frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes
Blood levels of vitamin B6 (0–32.3μg/l; mean = 9.34 ± 5.74) and vitamin B1 (34–73 μg/l; mean = 53.07 ± 8.21) were within the normal to high normal range for all subjects included in the present study, without significant correlation with age (B6: r = 0.014, p = 0.73; B1: r = −0.060, p = 0.14)
Our present results add to this latter aspect, in that we found no effect on cognitive performance in relation to increasing B6 blood levels in our sample of healthy older adults with normal to high-normal B6 levels
Summary
Aging is associated with cognitive decline as well as brain atrophy and functional brain network reorganization, in higher association cortices of frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes. Back-to-normal levels of B1 have been shown to be beneficial for mood, reaction time, recall, attention and calculation, including global cognitive screenings such as Mini-Mental State Examination (Benton et al, 1995; Miller et al, 2002; Oscar-Berman et al, 2004; Mulder et al, 2005; Nardone et al, 2013; Lu et al, 2015) as well as for general cognition in AD patients (Lu’o’ng and Nguyen, 2011) In addition to these beneficial effects of vitamin B1 or B6 supplementation on cognition, effects in the brain have been reported as well. Supplementation of B vitamins has been shown to be beneficial in that annual rates of brain atrophy were lowered (Jernerén et al, 2015)
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