Objective:

Given the need for early detection of neurodegenerative disorders, the current study investigated the associations between rCBF in brain regions associated with neurodegenerative disorders and memory function with plasma NFL in AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy controls (HCs). 

Background:

Recent findings suggest the plasma axonal structural protein, neurofilament light chain (NFL), may serve as a potential blood biomarker for early signs of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 

Design/Methods:

We recruited 29 AD, 76 MCI, and 39 HCs from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. 

Results:

Despite the observation of significantly reduced rCBF in AD and MCI versus HCs, we did not detect significant differences in plasma NFL between these groups. We found significant negative associations between plasma NFL and rCBF in various AD-related regions, these findings were only observed after analyses in all participants, and HCs alone, while there were no significant associations in the AD or MCI groups. 

Conclusions:

These outcomes add to our current understanding surrounding the use of rCBF and plasma NFL biomarkers as tools for early detection and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. A conclusion might be that the association between NFL and impaired rCBF exists before the clinical symptoms appear. Further longitudinal studies with a large sample size should be performed to examine the correlation between plasma NFL and rCBF to needed to understand these complex relationships.