Decreased myelin content of the fornix predicts poorer memory performance beyond vascular risk, hippocampal volume, and fractional anisotropy in nondemented older adults

Alterations to cerebral white matter tracts have been associated with cognitive decline in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In particular, the fornix has been implicated as especially vulnerable given that it represents the primary outflow tract of the hippocampus. Despite this, little work has focused on the fornix using a potential early marker of white matter degeneration—myelin water fraction (MWF; an in vivo marker of myelin content). Therefore, we sought to (1) clarify associations between MWF in the fornix and memory functioning, and (2) examine whether fornix MWF relates to memory performance above and beyond hippocampal volume and conventional imaging measures of white matter that may not be as specific to alterations in myelin content. Forty nondemented older adults (mean age = 72.9 years) underwent an MRI exam and neuropsychological assessment. Multicomponent driven equilibrium single pulse observation of T1 and T2 (mcDESPOT) was used to quantify fornix MWF and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to measure fornix fractional anisotropy (FA). Adjusting for age, sex, education, and vascular risk factors, linear regression models revealed that, lower fornix MWF was significantly associated with poorer memory functioning (β = 0.405, p = .007) across our sample of older adults. Notably, fornix MWF remained a significant predictor of memory functioning (β = 0.380, p = .015) even after adjusting for fornix DTI FA and hippocampal volume (in addition to the above covariates). Given the observed associations between myelin and memory in older adults without dementia, MWF may be a useful early marker of dementia risk. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11682-021-00458-z.