1. Spontaneous and perturbation-based EEG cortical excitability markers are associated with plasma p-tau181 concentration in healthy middle-aged adults
- Author
-
Ruben Perellón-Alfonso, Kilian Abellaneda-Pérez, Indre Pileckyte, María Cabello-Toscano, Lídia Mulet-Pons, Lídia Vaqué-Alcázar, Gabriele Cattaneo, María Redondo-Camós, Goretti España-Irla, Selma Delgado-Gallen, Javier Solana Sánchez, Henrik Zetterberg, Jose M. Tormos, Nicolai Franzmeier, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, and David Bartrés-Faz
- Subjects
Alzheimer's disease ,Tau ,EEG ,Transcranial magnetic stimulation ,Science (General) ,Q1-390 ,Social sciences (General) ,H1-99 - Abstract
In early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition can induce neuronal hyperactivity, thereby potentially triggering activity-dependent neuronal secretion of phosphorylated tau (p-tau), ensuing tau aggregation and spread. Therefore, cortical excitability is a candidate biomarker for early AD detection. Moreover, lowering neuronal excitability could potentially complement strategies to reduce Aβ and tau buildup. There is, however, a lack of understanding of the relationship between cortical excitability and p-tau increase in vivo. Therefore, in a sample of 658 healthy middle-aged (between the ages of 40 and 65) participants of the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative cohort study, we examined the relation of blood-based tau, phosphorylated at amino acid 181 (p-tau181), reflecting neuronal p-tau secretion; neurofilament light chain (NfL), as a passively released control for p-tau181; and electroencephalography (EEG) markers of cortical excitability. A subsample of 47 participants also completed a controlled brain perturbation approach via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with concurrent EEG. Results show that both spontaneous (i.e., resting-state) and perturbation-based TMS-EEG markers, are associated with blood p-tau181, particularly in older individuals. The perturbation-based marker was a significantly more sensitive predictor of p-tau181 concentration than the spontaneous resting state EEG-based marker. The relationships observed are not present for the NfL control. These results show that relationships between p-tau181 and cortical excitability are present in healthy middle-aged subjects and that p-tau181 increases may reflect activity-dependent secretion.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF