Frontal adenosine triphosphate markers from 31P MRS are associated with cognitive performance in healthy older adults: preliminary findings

Francesca V Lopez; Andrew O'Shea; Jens T Rosenberg; Christiaan Leeuwenburgh; Stephen Anton; Dawn Bowers; Adam J Woods

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2023.1180994

Frontal adenosine triphosphate markers from ³¹P MRS are associated with cognitive performance in healthy older adults: preliminary findings

Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 Aug 8:15:1180994. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1180994. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Francesca V Lopez¹, Andrew O'Shea^{1

2}, Jens T Rosenberg³, Christiaan Leeuwenburgh^{4

5}, Stephen Anton^{4

5}, Dawn Bowers^{1

6}, Adam J Woods^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
² Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
³ Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Facility, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
⁴ Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
⁵ College of Medicine, Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
⁶ Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.

Abstract

Aging is associated with declines in mitochondrial efficiency and energy production which directly impacts the availability of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which contains high energy phosphates critical for a variety of cellular functions. Previous phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy (³¹P MRS) studies demonstrate cerebral ATP declines with age. The purpose of this study was to explore the functional relationships of frontal and posterior ATP levels with cognition in healthy aging. Here, we measured frontal and posterior ATP levels using ³¹P MRS at 3 Tesla (3 T) and assessed cognition using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in 30 healthy older adults. We found that greater frontal, but not posterior, ATP levels were significantly associated with better MoCA performance. This relationship remained significant after controlling for age, sex, years of education, and brain atrophy. In conclusion, our findings indicate that cognition is related to ATP in the frontal cortex. These preliminary findings may have important implications in the search for non-invasive markers of in vivo mitochondrial function and the impact of ATP availability on cognition. Future studies are needed to confirm the functional significance of regional ATP and cognition across the lifespan.

Keywords: adenosine triphosphate; aging; brain energy metabolism; cognition; phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Osato Research (Japan) and the National Institutes of Health (T32NS082168 and F31AG071264), the University of Florida Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory Clinical Translational Research, and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation.