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Associations of category fluency clustering performance with in vivo brain pathology in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2023

Defne Yucebas ,
Joshua T. Fox-Fuller ,
Alex Badillo Cabrera ,
Ana Baena ,
Celina Pluim McDowell ,
Paula Aduen ,
Clara Vila-Castelar ,
Yamile Bocanegra ,
Victoria Tirado  and
Justin S. Sanchez Open the ORCID record for Justin S. Sanchez [Opens in a new window]
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Defne Yucebas
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02155, USA
Joshua T. Fox-Fuller
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02155, USA Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Alex Badillo Cabrera
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Ana Baena
Affiliation:
Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Celina Pluim McDowell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02155, USA Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Paula Aduen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Clara Vila-Castelar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Yamile Bocanegra
Affiliation:
Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia Hospital Pablo Tobon Uribe, Medellín, Colombia
Victoria Tirado
Affiliation:
Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia Hospital Pablo Tobon Uribe, Medellín, Colombia
Justin S. Sanchez
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Alice Cronin-Golomb
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02155, USA
Francisco Lopera
Affiliation:
Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Yakeel T. Quiroz*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Yakeel T. Quiroz, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02129, USA. E-mail: yquiroz@mgh.harvard.edu
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Abstract

Objectives:

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is known to impact semantic access, which is frequently evaluated using the Category Fluency (Animals) test. Recent studies have suggested that in addition to overall category fluency scores (total number of words produced over time), poor clustering could signal AD-related cognitive difficulties. In this study, we examined the association between category fluency clustering performance (i.e., stating words sequentially that are all contained within a subcategory, such as domestic animals) and brain pathology in individuals with autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (ADAD).

Methods:

A total of 29 non-demented carriers of the Presenilin1 E280A ADAD mutation and 32 noncarrier family members completed the category fluency test (Animals) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The participants also underwent positron emission tomography (PET) scans to evaluate in vivo amyloid-beta in the neocortex and tau in medial temporal lobe regions. Differences between carriers and noncarriers on cognitive tests were assessed with Mann-Whitney tests; associations between cognitive test performance and brain pathology were assessed with Spearman correlations.

Results:

Animal fluency scores did not differ between carriers and noncarriers. Carriers, however, showed a stronger association between animal fluency clustering and in vivo AD brain pathology (neocortical amyloid and entorhinal tau) relative to noncarriers.

Conclusion:

This study indicates that using category fluency clustering, but not total score, is related to AD pathophysiology in the preclinical and early stages of the disease.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s diseasecognitionneuropsychologypositron-emission tomographyAlzheimer-beta proteintau protein
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2024 , pp. 77 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2023

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