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Total and Regional Gray Matter Volume Is Not Related to APOE*E4 Status in a Community Sample of Middle-Aged Individuals

¹ Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra.
² School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
³ Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ The Alfred & Monash University, Department of Psychological Medicine, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra.

Address correspondence to Nicolas Cherbuin, PhD, Centre for Mental Health Research, Building 63, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. E-mail: nicolas.cherbuin{at}anu.edu.au

Background. The APOE*E4 allele has been associated with greater gray matter atrophy and with Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the relationship between cerebral gray matter atrophy and APOE*E4 genotype was also present in a community-dwelling, nondemented 60- to 64-year-old cohort.

Methods. Hippocampal and amygdalar volumes were manually traced and analyzed on 331 cranial T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to detect differences associated with APOE*E4 genotype. Voxel-based morphometric (VBM) analyses were applied to detect regional gray matter volume differences.

Results. No total, hippocampal, or amygdalar gray matter volume difference was detected between APOE*E4 carriers and noncarriers.

Conclusions. In nondemented 60- to 64-year-olds, there was no association between APOE genotype and gray matter volume using both region-of-interest analysis and VBM.

Key Words: APOE • MRI • Cerebral atrophy • Voxel-based morphometry • Hippocampus • Amygdala