Dendritic spine head diameter predicts episodic memory performance in older adults.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39110801.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adn5181 and PMC identifier 11305389.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Episodic memory in older adults is varied and perceived to rely on numbers of synapses or dendritic spines. We analyzed 2157 neurons among 128 older individuals from the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project. Analysis of 55,521 individual dendritic spines by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and nested model cross-validation revealed that the dendritic spine head diameter in the temporal cortex, but not the premotor cortex, improved the prediction of episodic memory performance in models containing β amyloid plaque scores, neurofibrillary tangle pathology, and sex. These findings support the emerging hypothesis that, in the temporal cortex, synapse strength is more critical than quantity for memory in old age.
Medical subject headings
- Dendritic Spines
- Memory, Episodic