Associations between serum metabolic syndrome indicators levels and cerebrospinal fluid pathological protein in dementia and pre-dementia patients.

Abstract

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was associated with an increased incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and progression to dementia.

Objective: To study the associations between MetS indicators and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in the participants.

Methods: 61 normal cognition, 66 mild MCI, and 135 dementia participants were included in our study, with the results of lumbar puncture and peripheral blood biochemistry. The CSF levels of amyloid-β (Aβ)₄₂ protein, total tau protein, phosphorylated tau protein, and Aβ_42/40 ratio, were selected as the biomarkers. The body mass index, the plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol, uric acid, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, and homocysteine levels were selected as indicators of MetS. Linear regression model was used to analyze the correlation in all participants and different cognitive stages, controlling for age, gender, and APOE genotype.

Results: Our study showed that MetS indicators were associated with CSF biomarkers in participants after adjusting for possible confounding factors, including age, gender, and APOE genotype. The results of our grouping analysis further supported the potential association between plasma MetS indicators and CSF biomarkers in three group. We found that the dementia group showed the greatest correlation coefficient.

Conclusions: The CSF pathological proteins concentrations were associated with MetS indicators, and the correlation coefficient were greater in the dementia stage. These findings suggest that regulating peripheral metabolism may affect the level of pathological proteins in the brain to improve cognitive impairment.