Astrogliosis and episodic memory in late life: higher GFAP is related to worse memory and white matter microstructure in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT: Astrocytes play a formative role in memory consolidation during physiological conditions; when dysregulated, astrocytes release glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which has been linked with negative memory outcomes in animal studies. We examined the association between blood GFAP, memory, and white matter (WM) integrity, accounting for blood markers of AD pathology (i.e., Aβ42) and neurodegeneration (i.e., total tau; neurofilament light chain) in 114 older adults (asymptomatic, n = 69; MCI/AD dementia, n = 45). Higher levels of GFAP were associated with lower memory scores (p < 0.0001), such that for 1 SD increase in mean GFAP values, the memory composite score decreased on average by 0.49 (Standard error = 0.071). These results remained significant after controlling for diagnostic st

SUBMITTER: Bettcher BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8313091 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature