Abstract #3211

Quantitative susceptibility mapping and PET indicate iron-related cognitive decline during aging

Lin Chen^1,2,3, Anja Soldan⁴, Kenichi Oishi¹, Andreia Faria¹, Marilyn Albert⁴, Peter C.M. Van zijl^1,2, and Xu Li^1,2

¹Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma and Magnetic Resonance, Xiamen University, XIAMEN, China, ⁴Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States

We investigated the associations between brain iron levels, as measured by QSM MRI, and amyloid-β plaque load as measured by ¹¹C-PiB PET imaging, and their possible synergistic effect on both global composite and domain specific cognitive functions, including memory, visuospatial processing and language. Various association patterns were observed between iron load and amyloid-β deposition in voxel-based analysis. More importantly, in cognitively normal adults, iron levels in several brain regions were found negatively associated with cognition. This was independent of amyloid-β load, suggesting that the impact of iron on cognition may be related to other known molecular changes during early aging.

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