Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Early Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis is crucial for preventive therapy development. Standard neuropsychological evaluation does not identify clinically normal individuals with brain amyloidosis, the first stage of the pathology, defined as preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Spatial...
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BMC
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01679-w |
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| author | Lise Colmant Lisa Quenon Lara Huyghe Adrian Ivanoiu Thomas Gérard Renaud Lhommel Pauline Coppens Yasmine Salman Vincent Malotaux Laurence Dricot Lukas Kunz Nikolai Axmacher Philippe Lefèvre Bernard Hanseeuw |
| author_facet | Lise Colmant Lisa Quenon Lara Huyghe Adrian Ivanoiu Thomas Gérard Renaud Lhommel Pauline Coppens Yasmine Salman Vincent Malotaux Laurence Dricot Lukas Kunz Nikolai Axmacher Philippe Lefèvre Bernard Hanseeuw |
| author_sort | Lise Colmant |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Early Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis is crucial for preventive therapy development. Standard neuropsychological evaluation does not identify clinically normal individuals with brain amyloidosis, the first stage of the pathology, defined as preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Spatial navigation assessment, in particular path integration, appears promising to detect preclinical symptoms, as the medial temporal lobe plays a key role in navigation and is the first cortical region affected by tau pathology. Methods We have conducted a cross-sectional study. We related the path integration performance of 102 individuals without dementia, aged over 50, to amyloid and tau pathologies, measured using positron emission tomography. We included 75 clinically normal individuals (19 with brain amyloidosis, 56 without) and 27 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (18 with brain amyloidosis, 9 without). We fitted linear mixed models to predict the path integration performances according to amyloid status or tau pathology in the medial temporal lobal, adjusting for age, gender, cognitive status, education, and video game experience. We decomposed the error into rotation and distance errors. Results We observed that clinically normal adults with brain amyloidosis (preclinical Alzheimer’s disease) had spatial navigation deficits when relying only on self-motion cues. However, they were able to use a landmark to reduce their errors. Individuals with mild cognitive impairment had deficits in path integration that did not improve when a landmark was added in the environment. The amyloid status did not influence performance among individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Among all individuals, rotation, but not distance, errors increased with the level of tau pathology in the medial temporal lobe. Conclusion Our results suggest that path integration performance in an environment without external cues allows identifying individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, before overt episodic memory impairment is noticeable. Specifically, we demonstrated that poor angular estimation is an early cognitive marker of tau pathology, whereas distance estimation relates to older ages, not to Alzheimer’s disease. Trial registration Eudra-CT 2018–003473-94. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-031663c6338946309a952f73a78c4f56 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1758-9193 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy |
| spelling | doaj-art-031663c6338946309a952f73a78c4f562025-02-02T12:11:53ZengBMCAlzheimer’s Research & Therapy1758-91932025-02-0117111610.1186/s13195-025-01679-wRotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional studyLise Colmant0Lisa Quenon1Lara Huyghe2Adrian Ivanoiu3Thomas Gérard4Renaud Lhommel5Pauline Coppens6Yasmine Salman7Vincent Malotaux8Laurence Dricot9Lukas Kunz10Nikolai Axmacher11Philippe Lefèvre12Bernard Hanseeuw13Institute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainDepartment of Neurology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-LucInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainDepartment of Epileptology, University Hospital BonnDepartment of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University BochumInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainInstitute of Neuroscience, NEUR, UCLouvainAbstract Background Early Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis is crucial for preventive therapy development. Standard neuropsychological evaluation does not identify clinically normal individuals with brain amyloidosis, the first stage of the pathology, defined as preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Spatial navigation assessment, in particular path integration, appears promising to detect preclinical symptoms, as the medial temporal lobe plays a key role in navigation and is the first cortical region affected by tau pathology. Methods We have conducted a cross-sectional study. We related the path integration performance of 102 individuals without dementia, aged over 50, to amyloid and tau pathologies, measured using positron emission tomography. We included 75 clinically normal individuals (19 with brain amyloidosis, 56 without) and 27 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (18 with brain amyloidosis, 9 without). We fitted linear mixed models to predict the path integration performances according to amyloid status or tau pathology in the medial temporal lobal, adjusting for age, gender, cognitive status, education, and video game experience. We decomposed the error into rotation and distance errors. Results We observed that clinically normal adults with brain amyloidosis (preclinical Alzheimer’s disease) had spatial navigation deficits when relying only on self-motion cues. However, they were able to use a landmark to reduce their errors. Individuals with mild cognitive impairment had deficits in path integration that did not improve when a landmark was added in the environment. The amyloid status did not influence performance among individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Among all individuals, rotation, but not distance, errors increased with the level of tau pathology in the medial temporal lobe. Conclusion Our results suggest that path integration performance in an environment without external cues allows identifying individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, before overt episodic memory impairment is noticeable. Specifically, we demonstrated that poor angular estimation is an early cognitive marker of tau pathology, whereas distance estimation relates to older ages, not to Alzheimer’s disease. Trial registration Eudra-CT 2018–003473-94.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01679-wSpatial navigationPath integrationAlzheimer’s diseaseEarly diagnosisTau pathology |
| spellingShingle | Lise Colmant Lisa Quenon Lara Huyghe Adrian Ivanoiu Thomas Gérard Renaud Lhommel Pauline Coppens Yasmine Salman Vincent Malotaux Laurence Dricot Lukas Kunz Nikolai Axmacher Philippe Lefèvre Bernard Hanseeuw Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy Spatial navigation Path integration Alzheimer’s disease Early diagnosis Tau pathology |
| title | Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | rotation errors in path integration are associated with alzheimer s disease tau pathology a cross sectional study |
| topic | Spatial navigation Path integration Alzheimer’s disease Early diagnosis Tau pathology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01679-w |
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