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. 2017;59(2):675-681.
doi: 10.3233/JAD-170118.

Iron Concentration in Deep Gray Matter Structures is Associated with Worse Visual Memory Performance in Healthy Young Adults

Gergely Darnai  1   2   3   4 , Szilvia Anett Nagy  5   4 , Réka Horváth  1 , Péter Ács  1 , Gábor Perlaki  5   4   6 , Gergely Orsi  5   4   6 , Norbert Kovács  1   4 , Anna Altbäcker  1   7 , Enikő Plózer  1 , Dalma Tényi  1 , Rita Weintraut  1 , Attila Schwarcz  4   6 , Flóra John  1 , Eszter Varga  1 , Tamás Bereczkei  2 , Zsófia Clemens  1 , Sámuel Komoly  1 , József Janszky  1   3   4
Affiliations

Iron Concentration in Deep Gray Matter Structures is Associated with Worse Visual Memory Performance in Healthy Young Adults

Gergely Darnai et al. J Alzheimers Dis. 2017.

Abstract

Abnormally high deposition of iron can contribute to neurodegenerative disorders with cognitive impairment. Since previous studies investigating cognition-brain iron accumulation relationships focused on elderly people, our aim was to explore the association between iron concentration in subcortical nuclei and two types of memory performances in a healthy young population. Gender difference was found only in the globus pallidus. Our results showed that iron load characterized by R2* value on the MRI in the caudate and putamen was related to visual memory, while verbal memory was unrelated to iron concentration.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; caudate nucleus; magnetic resonance imaging; memory; putamen; thalamus.

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Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
A representative image of deep grey matter structures (cyan, left thalamus; yellow, right thalamus; pink, left globus pallidus; green, right globus pallidus; blue, left putamen; red, right putamen; grey, left caudate; brown, right caudate).
Fig.2
Fig.2
Scatterplots representing the relationships between performance on memory tasks and iron content in deep gray matter structures and Centrum Semiovale (control region). The correlations in the caudate and putamen were significant after correction for age andgender.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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