Homocysteine altered gyrification related to self‐awareness of everyday cognition

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPrevious studies on homocysteine have verified higher homocysteine may adversely influence cognition performance in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), whereas the potential mechanisms for this relationship are still unclear.MethodWe analyzed data from 23 individuals with SCD enrolled in the 500 nm light therapy cohort who filled the 12 items Everyday Cognition scale (ECog‐12) and had plasma homocysteine levels assessed at the time of their baseline 3T MRI scans. Gyrification and cortical thickness were obtained by using whole brain region of interest (ROI)‐based approach with the CAT12 toolbox (in SPM12). Statistical analyses used one‐sample t‐test including age and sex as covariates. Regions of significant group effects were used as regions of interest for cognitive performance analyses.ResultAt corrected thresholds (p < 0.05, Holm‐Bonferroni‐corrected), there were significant negative correlations between homocysteine and gyrification in the left temporal pole (p = 0.012000) and right inferior temporal sulcus (p = 0.012268). For cortical thickness, we found a significant positive correlation of homocysteine and cortical thickness in the right inferior temporal sulcus (p = 0.032744). In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between the self‐report ECog‐12 scores and gyrification of the left temporal pole.ConclusionHomocysteine alters local surface shape in temporal lobule in SCD patients and localized low gyrification may imply impaired self‐awareness of everyday cognition.