TY - JOUR A1 - Traub, Jan A1 - Otto, Markus A1 - Sell, Roxane A1 - Göpfert, Dennis A1 - Homola, György A1 - Steinacker, Petra A1 - Oeckl, Patrick A1 - Morbach, Caroline A1 - Frantz, Stefan A1 - Pham, Mirko A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Stoll, Guido A1 - Frey, Anna T1 - Serum phosphorylated tau protein 181 and neurofilament light chain in cognitively impaired heart failure patients JF - Alzheimer's Research & Therapy N2 - Background Chronic heart failure (HF) is known to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia significantly. Thus, detecting and preventing mild cognitive impairment, which is common in patients with HF, is of great importance. Serum biomarkers are increasingly used in neurological disorders for diagnostics, monitoring, and prognostication of disease course. It remains unclear if neuronal biomarkers may help detect cognitive impairment in this high-risk population. Also, the influence of chronic HF and concomitant renal dysfunction on these biomarkers is not well understood. Methods Within the monocentric Cognition.Matters-HF study, we quantified the serum levels of phosphorylated tau protein 181 (pTau) and neurofilament light chain (NfL) of 146 extensively phenotyped chronic heart failure patients (aged 32 to 85 years; 15.1% women) using ultrasensitive bead-based single-molecule immunoassays. The clinical work-up included advanced cognitive testing and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results Serum concentrations of NfL ranged from 5.4 to 215.0 pg/ml (median 26.4 pg/ml) and of pTau from 0.51 to 9.22 pg/ml (median 1.57 pg/ml). We detected mild cognitive impairment (i.e., T-score < 40 in at least one cognitive domain) in 60% of heart failure patients. pTau (p = 0.014), but not NfL, was elevated in this group. Both NfL (ρ = − 0.21; p = 0.013) and pTau (ρ = − 0.25; p = 0.002) related to the cognitive domain visual/verbal memory, as well as white matter hyperintensity volume and cerebral and hippocampal atrophy. In multivariable analysis, both biomarkers were independently influenced by age (T = 4.6 for pTau; T = 5.9 for NfL) and glomerular filtration rate (T = − 2.4 for pTau; T = − 3.4 for NfL). Markers of chronic heart failure, left atrial volume index (T = 4.6) and NT-proBNP (T = 2.8), were further cardiological determinants of pTau and NfL, respectively. In addition, pTau was also strongly affected by serum creatine kinase levels (T = 6.5) and ferritin (T = − 3.1). Conclusions pTau and NfL serum levels are strongly influenced by age-dependent renal and cardiac dysfunction. These findings point towards the need for longitudinal examinations and consideration of frequent comorbidities when using neuronal serum biomarkers. KW - Alzheimer’s dementia KW - heart failure KW - cognitive impairment KW - neurofilament light chain KW - phosphorylated tau protein KW - renal function KW - age Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300515 VL - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Göpfert, Dennis A1 - Traub, Jan A1 - Sell, Roxane A1 - Homola, György A. A1 - Vogt, Marius A1 - Pham, Mirko A1 - Frantz, Stefan A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Stoll, Guido A1 - Frey, Anna T1 - Profiles of cognitive impairment in chronic heart failure—A cluster analytic approach JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience N2 - Background Cognitive impairment is a major comorbidity in patients with chronic heart failure (HF) with a wide range of phenotypes. In this study, we aimed to identify and compare different clusters of cognitive deficits. Methods The prospective cohort study “Cognition.Matters-HF” recruited 147 chronic HF patients (aged 64.5 ± 10.8 years; 16.2% female) of any etiology. All patients underwent extensive neuropsychological testing. We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis of the cognitive domains, such as intensity of attention, visual/verbal memory, and executive function. Generated clusters were compared exploratively with respect to the results of cardiological, neurological, and neuroradiological examinations without correction for multiple testing. Results Dendrogram and the scree plot suggested three distinct cognitive profiles: In the first cluster, 42 patients (28.6%) performed without any deficits in all domains. Exclusively, the intensity of attention deficits was seen in the second cluster, including 55 patients (37.4%). A third cluster with 50 patients (34.0%) was characterized by deficits in all cognitive domains. Age (p = 0.163) and typical clinical markers of chronic HF, such as ejection fraction (p = 0.222), 6-min walking test distance (p = 0.138), NT-proBNP (p = 0.364), and New York Heart Association class (p = 0.868) did not differ between clusters. However, we observed that women (p = 0.012) and patients with previous cardiac valve surgery (p = 0.005) prevailed in the “global deficits” cluster and the “no deficits” group had a lower prevalence of underlying arterial hypertension (p = 0.029). Total brain volume (p = 0.017) was smaller in the global deficit cluster, and serum levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein were increased (p = 0.048). Conclusion Apart from cognitively healthy and globally impaired HF patients, we identified a group with deficits only in the intensity of attention. Women and patients with previous cardiac valve surgery are at risk for global cognitive impairment when suffering HF and could benefit from special multimodal treatment addressing the psychosocial condition. KW - chronic heart failure KW - cluster analysis KW - cognitive impairment KW - intensity of attention KW - glial fibrillary acidic protein Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313429 VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palkovits, Miklós A1 - Šebeková, Katarína A1 - Klenovics, Kristina Simon A1 - Kebis, Anton A1 - Fazeli, Gholamreza A1 - Bahner, Udo A1 - Heidland, August T1 - Neuronal Activation in the Central Nervous System of Rats in the Initial Stage of Chronic Kidney Disease-Modulatory Effects of Losartan and Moxonidine JF - PLoS ONE N2 - The effect of mild chronic renal failure (CRF) induced by 4/6-nephrectomy (4/6NX) on central neuronal activations was investigated by c-Fos immunohistochemistry staining and compared to sham-operated rats. In the 4/6 NX rats also the effect of the angiotensin receptor blocker, losartan, and the central sympatholyticum moxonidine was studied for two months. In serial brain sections Fos-immunoreactive neurons were localized and classified semiquantitatively. In 37 brain areas/nuclei several neurons with different functional properties were strongly affected in 4/6NX. It elicited a moderate to high Fos-activity in areas responsible for the monoaminergic innervation of the cerebral cortex, the limbic system, the thalamus and hypothalamus (e.g. noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus, serotonergic neurons in dorsal raphe, histaminergic neurons in the tuberomamillary nucleus). Other monoaminergic cell groups (A5 noradrenaline, C1 adrenaline, medullary raphe serotonin neurons) and neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (innervating the sympathetic preganglionic neurons and affecting the peripheral sympathetic outflow) did not show Fos-activity. Stress- and pain-sensitive cortical/subcortical areas, neurons in the limbic system, the hypothalamus and the circumventricular organs were also affected by 4/6NX. Administration of losartan and more strongly moxonidine modulated most effects and particularly inhibited Fos-activity in locus coeruleus neurons. In conclusion, 4/6NX elicits high activity in central sympathetic, stress- and pain-related brain areas as well as in the limbic system, which can be ameliorated by losartan and particularly by moxonidine. These changes indicate a high sensitivity of CNS in initial stages of CKD which could be causative in clinical disturbances. KW - brain natriuretic peptide KW - kidneys KW - cognitive impairment KW - central nervous system KW - chronic kidney disease KW - neurons KW - homeostasis KW - blood pressure Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130108 VL - 8 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reimann, Hauke A1 - Stopper, Helga A1 - Polak, Thomas A1 - Lauer, Martin A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Hintzsche, Henning T1 - Micronucleus frequency in buccal mucosa cells of patients with neurodegenerative diseases JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Neurodegenerative diseases show an increase in prevalence and incidence, with the most prominent example being Alzheimer's disease. DNA damage has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis, but the exact mechanisms remain elusive. We enrolled 425 participants with and without neurodegenerative diseases and analyzed DNA damage in the form of micronuclei in buccal mucosa samples. In addition, other parameters such as binucleated cells, karyolytic cells, and karyorrhectic cells were quantified. No relevant differences in DNA damage and cytotoxicity markers were observed in patients compared to healthy participants. Furthermore, other parameters such as lifestyle factors and diseases were also investigated. Overall, this study could not identify a direct link between changes in buccal cells and neurogenerative diseases, but highlights the influence of lifestyle factors and diseases on the human buccal cytome. KW - peripheral-blood lymphocytes KW - Alzheimers disease KW - DNA damage KW - cognitive impairment KW - cytome biomarkers KW - diagnosis KW - association KW - assay KW - life Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231430 VL - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Traub, Jan A1 - Frey, Anna A1 - Störk, Stefan T1 - Chronic neuroinflammation and cognitive decline in patients with cardiac disease: evidence, relevance, and therapeutic implications JF - Life N2 - Acute and chronic cardiac disorders predispose to alterations in cognitive performance, ranging from mild cognitive impairment to overt dementia. Although this association is well-established, the factors inducing and accelerating cognitive decline beyond ageing and the intricate causal pathways and multilateral interdependencies involved remain poorly understood. Dysregulated and persistent inflammatory processes have been implicated as potentially causal mediators of the adverse consequences on brain function in patients with cardiac disease. Recent advances in positron emission tomography disclosed an enhanced level of neuroinflammation of cortical and subcortical brain regions as an important correlate of altered cognition in these patients. In preclinical and clinical investigations, the thereby involved domains and cell types of the brain are gradually better characterized. Microglia, resident myeloid cells of the central nervous system, appear to be of particular importance, as they are extremely sensitive to even subtle pathological alterations affecting their complex interplay with neighboring astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, infiltrating myeloid cells, and lymphocytes. Here, we review the current evidence linking cognitive impairment and chronic neuroinflammation in patients with various selected cardiac disorders including the aspect of chronic neuroinflammation as a potentially druggable target. KW - neuroinflammation KW - cognitive impairment KW - dementia KW - myocardial infarction KW - heart failure KW - hypertension KW - coronary artery disease KW - atrial fibrillation KW - cardiac arrest KW - aortic valve stenosis Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-304869 SN - 2075-1729 VL - 13 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Lukas A1 - Karl, Franziska A1 - Sommer, Claudia A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan T1 - Affective and cognitive behavior in the alpha-galactosidase A deficient mouse model of Fabry disease JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited lysosomal storage disorder with intracellular accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) due to α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) deficiency. Fabry patients frequently report of anxiety, depression, and impaired cognitive function. We characterized affective and cognitive phenotype of male mice with α-Gal A deficiency (Fabry KO) and compared results with those of age-matched male wildtype (WT) littermates. Young (3 months) and old (≥ 18 months) mice were tested in the naïve state and after i.pl. injection of complete Freund`s adjuvant (CFA) as an inflammatory pain model. We used the elevated plus maze (EPM), the light-dark box (LDB) and the open field test (OF) to investigate anxiety-like behavior. The forced swim test (FST) and Morris water maze (MWM) were applied to assess depressive-like and learning behavior. The EPM test revealed no intergroup difference for anxiety-like behavior in naïve young and old Fabry KO mice compared to WT littermates, except for longer time spent in open arms of the EPM for young WT mice compared to young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05). After CFA injection, young Fabry KO mice showed increased anxiety-like behavior compared to young WT littermates (p<0.05) and naïve young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05) in the EPM as reflected by shorter time spent in EPM open arms. There were no relevant differences in the LDB and the OF test, except for longer time spent in the center zone of the OF by young WT mice compared to young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05). Complementary to this, depression-like and learning behavior were not different between genotypes and age-groups, except for the expectedly lower memory performance in older age-groups compared to young mice. Our results indicate that genetic influences on affective and cognitive symptoms in FD may be of subordinate relevance, drawing attention to potential influences of environmental and epigenetic factors. KW - cognitive impairment KW - mouse models KW - depression KW - swimming KW - learning KW - Fabry disease KW - genetics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170745 VL - 12 IS - 6 ER -