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Principal Investigator  
Principal Investigator's Name: Elena Dominguez
Institution: University of California, Irvine
Department: Neurobiology and Behavior
Country:
Proposed Analysis: Aim 1: To determine if cortical thickness in the cingulate cortex can predict longitudinal changes in cognitive performance. Many studies have that shown that structural characteristics of areas such as the hippocampus, are predictive of longitudinal decline (Mungas et al., 2005) and subsequent conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Jack et al., 1999; Csernansky et al., 2005; Eckerström et al., 2008). To date, this relationship has yet to be studied in the cingulate cortex, a region that has been shown to be both involved in successful aging (Fjell et al., 2006; Gefen et al., 2015; Lin et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2018) and susceptible to disease-related changes. Thus, I aim to examine if cortical thickness of the cingulate cortex can predict longitudinal changes in cognitive performance and clinical progression to cognitive impairment, no dementia (CIND) or dementia. Using cognitively normal participants from The 90+ Study and ADNI, I will test the hypothesis that individuals with a thinner cingulate cortex will exhibit: (1) lower baseline cognitive scores, (2) greater longitudinal cognitive decline, and (3) increased risk of conversion to CIND or dementia. Aim 3: To determine the relationship between cortical thickness, amyloid pathology, and cognitive performance. Previous reports have shown that amyloid deposition is associated with cortical thinning in aging (Becker et al., 2011; Hedden et al., 2013). Contrary to this, some studies have shown that despite having greater cortical thickness, groups of successfully cognitive aging individuals did not differ from cognitively normal elderly controls in amyloid positivity (Dang et al., 2019) or load (Borelli et al., preprint, Harrison et al., 2018). Given these two competing theories, I aim to (1) examine the relationship between amyloid load, cortical thickness, and cognition, and (2) examine whether cortical thickness in the cingulate mediates or moderates the relationship between amyloid load, and cognition.
Additional Investigators