Dendritic spine head diameter predicts episodic memory performance in older adults

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn5181
• Publication Date: 2024-08-07T18:02:20Z
• Authors: Courtney K. Walker; Evan Liu; Kelsey M. Greathouse; Ashley B. Adamson; Julia P. Wilson; Emily H. Poovey; Kendall A. Curtis; Hamad M. Muhammad; Audrey J. Weber; David A. Bennett; Nicholas T. Seyfried; Christopher Gaiteri; Jeremy H. Herskowitz
• Keywords: Temporal cortex

Episodic memory in older adults is varied and perceived to rely on numbers of synapses or dendritic spines. We analyzed 2157 neurons among 128 individuals from the Religious Orders Study Rush Memory Aging Project. Analysis 55,521 individual spines by least absolute shrinkage selection operator regression nested model cross-validation revealed that spine head diameter temporal cortex, but not premotor improved prediction episodic performance models containing β amyloid plaque scores, neurofibrillary tangle pathology, sex. These findings support emerging hypothesis that, synapse strength more critical than quantity for old age.