ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1559219
This article is part of the Research TopicBiofluid biomarkers for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases: current statusView all articles
Association of plasma BMP6 levels with the rates of brain atrophy in older people without dementia
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Neurology, Taizhou First People's Hospital, Taizhou, China
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Background: Bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP6) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and its levels have been reported to be associated with cognitive performance. However, few studies have examined the association between plasma BMP6 levels and brain atrophy in older adults.Methods: A total of 340 older adults without dementia were included in the current study. Study participants had baseline plasma BMP6 data available and at least two structural MRI scans. Volumes of six brain regions were measured, including the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, ventricles, and whole brain. A series of linear mixedeffects models were built to examine the associations of plasma BMP6 levels with brain atrophy over time.Results: Our study revealed that higher plasma BMP6 levels were associated with a reduced rate of volume loss in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and whole brain. However, there was no significant link between plasma BMP6 levels and changes in the volume of the fusiform gyrus or ventricles.Our results may provide novel insights into the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in AD, contributing to new avenues for timely intervention and potentially slowing disease progression.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, BMP6, MRI, brain atrophy, Hippocampus
Received: 12 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Fu and Cai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Cai, Department of Neurology, Taizhou First People's Hospital, Taizhou, China
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