Sex and APOE ε4 allele differences in longitudinal white matter microstructure in multiple cohorts of aging and Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The effects of sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE)-Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk factors-on white matter microstructure are not well characterized.

Methods

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data from nine well-established longitudinal cohorts of aging were free water (FW)-corrected and harmonized. This dataset included 4741 participants (age = 73.06 ± 9.75) with 9671 imaging sessions over time. FW and FW-corrected fractional anisotropy (FA_FWcorr) were used to assess differences in white matter microstructure by sex and APOE ε4 carrier status.

Results

Sex differences in FA_FWcorr in projection tracts and APOE ε4 differences in FW limbic and occipital transcallosal tracts were most pronounced.

Discussion

There are prominent differ

SUBMITTER: Peterson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11781133 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature