Schedule of Events | Symposia

Globus pallidus iron levels relate to cognitive impairment in Alzheimer‘s disease: Evidence from an in vivo MRI-based meta-analysis

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 4 - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EDT, Constitution B.

Marthe Mieling¹ (m.mieling@uni-luebeck.de), Clara Wiskow¹, Nico Bunzeck^1,2; ¹Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany, ²Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany

Iron plays an essential role in brain metabolism and, therefore, cognitive functioning. However, region specific iron level increases during healthy and, even more so, pathological aging, in particular Alzheimer’s disease, can have detrimental effects. Although this notion has been supported by several single studies, meta-analytic evidence of a relationship between iron levels, as measured with in vivo MRI, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still missing. We used a meta-analytic approach of 22 in vivo MRI experiments with, in total, 685 AD patients and 1104 healthy controls (HC). All studies employed iron sensitive markers, such as R2* or QSM, and reported effects in specific brain regions, including the putamen, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, hippocampus, and thalamus, that were further analyzed here. We also investigated the relationship between iron levels in AD and cognitive performance as measured with the Mini-Mental-Status-Examination (MMSE). In all regions of interest, iron level increases were significant in AD compared to HC, with the most pronounced effects in the putamen followed by the caudate. Importantly, in AD globus pallidus iron levels showed a negative correlation with MMSE performance. Our results provide unique evidence for the notion that iron level increases, especially within basal ganglia structures, which provide a hub for cognitive information processing, are a characteristic hallmark of AD. While this may relate to neurodegeneration, amyloid plaques and tau pathologies, our findings suggest that iron level increases can help to explain and possibly predict cognitive decline in AD.

Topic Area: OTHER