Cited by 172Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchNeurological diseases and metabolism

Cortical iron reflects severity of Alzheimer's disease

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van Duijn, Sara, Bulk, Marjolein, van Duinen, Sjoerd G., Nabuurs, Rob J.A., van Buchem, Mark A., van der Weerd, Louise, Natté, Remco·2017·Journal of Alzheimer s Disease

Abstract

Abnormal iron distribution in the isocortex is increasingly recognized as an in vivo marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the contribution of iron accumulation to the AD pathology is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated: 1) frontal cortical iron distribution in AD and normal aging and 2) the relation between iron distribution and degree of AD pathology. We used formalin fixed paraffin embedded frontal cortex from 10 AD patients, 10 elder, 10 middle aged, and 10 young controls and visualized iron with a modified Perl's histochemical procedure. AD and elderly subjects were not different with respect to age and sex distribution. Iron distribution in the frontal cortex was not affected by normal aging but was clearly different between AD and controls. AD showed accumulation of iron in plaques, activated microglia, and, in the most severe cases, in the mid-cortical layers along myelinated fibers. The degree of altered iron accumulations was correlated to the amount of amyloid-β plaques and tau pathology in the same block, as well as to Braak stage (p < 0.001). AD and normal aging show different iron and myelin distribution in frontal cortex. These changes appear to occur after the development of the AD pathological hallmarks. These findings may help the interpretation of high resolution in vivo MRI and suggest the potential of using changes in iron-based MRI contrast to indirectly determine the degree of AD pathology in the frontal cortex.

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  • Aβ plaque deposition generates detectable local magnetic susceptibility variations.

    “generating detectable local magnetic susceptibility variations.”

    From Diffusion MRI reveals amyloid plaque–associated cellular signatures through spatial transcriptomic integration (2026) · cites this paper as [31]

    The Introduction reports MRI susceptibility changes that correlate with Aβ plaques and notes that plaques accumulate iron. It says plaque iron has been suggested to cause the susceptibility effects, but does not establish that plaque deposition itself generates them; the Conclusion also identifies other sources of iron-related MRI contrast. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Authors
van Duijn, S., Bulk, M., van Duinen, S. G., Nabuurs, R. J. A., van Buchem, M. A., van der Weerd, L., & Natté, R.
Affiliations
  • Department of Pathology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
  • Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
  • Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
Corresponding author
Natté, Remco
Venue
Journal of Alzheimer s Disease
Published
2017-11-07
Volume
60
Issue
4
Pages
1533-1545
ISSN
  • 1387-2877 (ISSN-L)
  • 1875-8908
OpenAlex
W2765714249
Cited by
172
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 1
FWCI
9.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Alzheimer s Disease (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions (612360, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IAPP, FP7-PEOPLE-2013)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological diseases and metabolism
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Alzheimer Disease, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Iron, Male, Middle Aged, Myelin Sheath, Severity of Illness Index, tau Proteins, Young Adult, Plaque, Amyloid

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