Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material.
If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Neurofilament light chain NfL has been associated with cognitive status in multiple neurodegenerative conditions. Studies about plasma NfL and cognitive decline in older adults are still limited.
Mixed-effects linear models were performed to evaluate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations. Neurofilament is a structural protein that determines axonal caliber and conduction velocity in neurons 1. As one of the three neurofilament components, neurofilament light chain NfL has been suggested as a biomarker of axonal damage 2.
As an inexpensive and less invasive parameter, plasma NfL is supposed to be a substitute of CSF NfL in the evaluation of neural degeneration due to their close correlations 6. Plasma NfL also demonstrated similar effect sizes as CSF NfL in the association with over time cognitive declines among older adults with a median age of 76 7. Cross-sectional studies have shown that older adults with MCI had higher plasma NfL than those with normal cognition NC , and higher NfL was associated with lower cognitive functions 8 , At a longitudinal level, greater baseline plasma NfL was associated with poorer cognitive functions over time 7 , 8.
Despite these findings, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of plasma NfL and cognitive functions in non-dementia older adults are still limited, and with relatively small sample sizes. Contradictory results about the significance of plasma NfL difference between the NC and MCI groups were also reported in various studies 7 , 8 , 11 , Moreover, although plasma NfL has been associated with both neuroimaging measures e.
