The goal of the current study was to learn about the role of cerebral mitochondrial function on cognition. Based on established cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, and cognitive aging literature, we hypothesized mitochondrial function within a focal brain region would map onto cognitive behaviors linked to that brain region. To test this hypothesis, we used phosphorous (³¹P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to derive indirect markers of mitochondrial function and energy metabolism across two regions of the brain (bifrontal, left temporal). We administered cognitive tasks sensitive to frontal-executive or temporal-hippocampal systems to a sample of 70 cognitively unimpaired older adults with subjective memory complaints and a first-degree family history of Alzheimer’s disease and predicted better executive function and recent memory performance would be related to greater frontal and temporal ³¹P MRS indirect markers, respectively. Results of separate hierarchical linear regressions indicated better recent memory scores were related to ³¹P MRS indirect markers of lower static energy and higher energy reserve within the left temporal voxel; these findings were associated with moderate effect sizes. Contrary to predictions, executive function performance was unrelated to ³¹P MRS indirect markers within the bilateral frontal voxel, which may reflect a combination of theoretical and/or methodological issues. Findings represent a snapshot of the relationship between cognition and ³¹P MRS indirect markers of mitochondrial function, providing potential avenues for future work investigating mitochondrial underpinnings of cognition. ³¹P MRS may provide a sensitive neuroimaging marker for differences in aspects of memory among persons at-risk for mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

本研究的目标是了解大脑线粒体功能对认知的作用。根据已建立的认知神经科学、临床神经心理学和认知衰老文献，我们假设局灶性大脑区域内的线粒体功能将映射到与该大脑区域相关的认知行为。为了检验这一假设，我们使用磷 （³¹P） 磁共振波谱 （MRS） 来得出大脑两个区域（双额、左颞叶）线粒体功能和能量代谢的间接标志物。我们对 70 名认知未受损的老年人进行对额叶执行系统或颞叶海马系统敏感的认知任务，这些老年人有主观记忆抱怨和一级阿尔茨海默病家族史，并预测更好的执行功能和最近的记忆表现将与更大的额叶和时间 ³¹P MRS 间接标志物相关，分别。单独的分层线性回归结果表明，较好的近期记忆评分与左侧颞体素内较低静态能量和较高能量储备的 ³¹P MRS 间接标志物相关;这些发现与中等效应量有关。与预测相反，执行功能表现与双侧额体素内的 ³¹P MRS 间接标志物无关，这可能反映了理论和/或方法学问题的组合。研究结果代表了认知与线粒体功能的 ³¹P MRS 间接标志物之间关系的快照，为未来研究认知线粒体基础的工作提供了潜在途径。 ³¹P MRS 可能为轻度认知障碍或痴呆风险人群的记忆方面差异提供敏感的神经影像学标志物。