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Positive association between plasma amylin and cognition in a homebound elderly population
Qiu, W. Q., Au, R., Zhu, H., Wallack, M., Liebson, E., Li, H., Rosenzweig, J., Mwamburi, M., & Stern, R. A. (2014). Positive association between plasma amylin and cognition in a homebound elderly population. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 42(2), 555-63. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-140210
Our recent study reported that amylin, a pancreatic peptide that readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, improves learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease mouse models. However, the relationship between peripheral amylin and cognition in humans is unknown. In this follow-up study, using a cross-sectional, homebound elderly population, improvement in cognitive function with increasing quartiles of plasma amylin was suggested by positive association with verbal memory (p = 0.0002) and visuoconstruction tasks (p = 0.004), and inverse association with timed measures of attention (p < 0.0001) and executive function (p = 0.04). After adjusting for demographic information, apolipoprotein E4 allele, diabetes, stroke, kidney function, and lipid profile, log10 of plasma amylin remained associated with these cognitive domains. In contrast, plasma amyloid-β peptide was not associated with these specific cognitive domains. Our study suggests that peripheral amylin may be protective for cognitive decline, especially in the domains affected by Alzheimer's disease.