Affiliations: [a] Memory Research and Resource Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| [b] Clinical Neurophysiology Unit, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Montpellier, France
| [c] INSERM U1183, University of Montpellier, France
| [d] INSERM U1061, University of Montpellier, France
| [e] Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gui de Chauliac University Hospital, Montpellier, France
| [f] Gérontopôle, Department of Geriatrics, CHU Toulouse, Purpan University Hospital, Toulouse, France
| [g] INSERM UMR 1027, Toulouse, France
| [h]
University of Toulouse III, Toulouse, France
| [i] Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, CHU Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Karim Bennys, MD, Memory Research and Resource Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Tel.: +33 4 67 33 60 29; Fax: +33 4 67 33 60 36; E-mail: k-bennys@chu-montpellier.fr.
Abstract: Background: By analyzing brain synaptic function, cognitive event-related potentials (ERPs) could provide powerful and innovative tools for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis. Objective: We investigated the relevance of the ERP-P300 component as a potential diagnosis marker in elderly subjects at risk of developing AD. Methods: ERP-P300 was analyzed on 85 subjects recruited from the Multidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial (MAPT). PET-AV45 brain imaging was available from 36 subjects. Results: Two ERP-P300 subgroups were identified according to their PET-AV45 status: PET-Aβ positive (n = 15) and PET-Aβ negative (n = 21). In the amyloid positive group, we observed a highly significant increase in P3b latency in parietal brain regions (p = 0.0052). P3b in parietal regions correctly categorized 69.4% elderly subjects from the P300-PET Aβ positive group. Combined analysis of parietal P3b latencies and category fluency correctly classified 75% subjects from the P300-PET Aβ positive group. Conclusions: The P300 ERP presents good predictive measure of brain amyloid load and has the potential to be used as a screening instrument for preclinical AD. The incorporation of P3b latency may be used as an adjunctive tool with neuropsychological assessment (i.e., verbal category fluency) as a specific and sensitive method for preclinical assessment of AD.
