Abstract
Working memory is developed in one region of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The dysfunction of this region leads to synaptic neuroplasticity impairment. It has been reported that several biochemical parameters and anthropometric measurements play a vital role in cognition and brain health. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between cognitive function, serum biochemical profile, and anthropometric measurements using DLPFC activation. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 35 older adults (≥60 years) who experienced mild cognitive impairment (MCI). For this purpose, we distributed a comprehensive interview-based questionnaire for collecting sociodemographic information from the participants and conducting cognitive tests. Anthropometric values were measured, and fasting blood specimens were collected. We investigated their brain activation using the task-based functional MRI (fMRI; N-back), specifically in the DLPFC region. Positive relationships were observed between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (β = 0.494, p < 0.01) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (β = 0.698, p < 0.01); however, negative relationships were observed between serum triglyceride (β = −0.402, p < 0.05) and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) (β = −0.326, p < 0.05) with right DLPFC activation (R2 = 0.512) while the participants performed 1-back task after adjustments for age, gender, and years of education. In conclusion, higher serum triglycerides, higher oxidative stress, and lower neurotrophic factor were associated with lower right DLPFC activation among older adults with MCI. A further investigation needs to be carried out to understand the causal-effect mechanisms of the significant parameters and the DLPFC activation so that better intervention strategies can be developed for reducing the risk of irreversible neurodegenerative diseases among older adults with MCI.
Highlights
Functional MRI is a noninvasive process that can be used for measuring brain activities since it detects changes related to blood flow (Wright and Wise, 2018). fMRI is regarded as an important tool that helped in detecting the changes that took place in the neural mechanisms of older adults (Belleville and Bherer, 2012)
This study was approved by the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM; NN-2019-137), and written informed consent was obtained from all the participants prior to data collection
All the mean values of both the anthropometric measurements and the biochemical parameters were within the normal range except systolic blood pressure, which was higher than the normal values (Table 1)
Summary
Functional MRI (fMRI) is a noninvasive process that can be used for measuring brain activities since it detects changes related to blood flow (Wright and Wise, 2018). fMRI is regarded as an important tool that helped in detecting the changes that took place in the neural mechanisms of older adults (Belleville and Bherer, 2012). FMRI is regarded as an important tool that helped in detecting the changes that took place in the neural mechanisms of older adults (Belleville and Bherer, 2012). This technique includes several features, which could be used as effective surrogate markers for investigating the cognitive status among older adults (Belleville and Bherer, 2012; Clément and Belleville, 2012). The human brain includes a region called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The site that was most frequently targeted among older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was the DLPFC as reported in recent studies, which is important for working memory (Wang et al, 2014; Badhwar et al, 2017; Taylor et al, 2019)
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