Abstract #2591

Tau-mediated microstructural changes in the central tegmental tract in APOE-ε4 positive mild cognitive impairment

Jason Langley¹, Sana Hussain², Daniel E Huddleston³, Ilana Bennett⁴, and Xiaoping P Hu^1,2

¹Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States, ²Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States, ³Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States, ⁴Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States

In mild cognitive impairment, hyperphosphorylated tau proteins and tau inclusions first appear in the locus coeruleus and transentorhinal cortex and spread to other brain regions, including the thalamus. Locus coeruleus axons project to the thalamus via the central tegmental tract (CTT). Relative to APOE-ε4 negative subjects, a decrease in MD (p=0.038) and an increase in ficvf (p=0.007) was seen in the CTT of APOE-ε4 positive subjects. In the APOE-e4 positive group, CTT microstructural measures were positively correlated with thalamus tau-PET SUVR but no correlations between CTT microstructure and tau-PET SUVR were observed in the APOE-ε4 negative group.

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