This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the relationship between neurovascular coupling and cognitive function in elderly individuals with vascular risk factors and to determine whether neurovascular coupling could be modified by cocoa consumption.
Methods: Sixty older people (aged 72.9 ± 5.4 years) were studied in a parallel-arm, double-blind clinical trial of neurovascular coupling and cognition in response to 24 hours and 30 days of cocoa consumption. Cognitive measures included Mini-Mental State Examination and Trail Making Test A and B. Neurovascular coupling was measured from the beat-to-beat blood flow velocity responses in the middle cerebral arteries to the N-Back Task. In a subset of MRI-eligible participants, cerebral white matter structural integrity was also measured.
Results: Neurovascular coupling was associated with Trails B scores (p = 0.002) and performance on the 2-Back Task. Higher neurovascular coupling was also associated with significantly higher fractional anisotropy in cerebral white matter hyperintensities (p = 0.02). Finally, 30 days of cocoa consumption was associated with increased neurovascular coupling (5.6% ± 7.2% vs −2.4% ± 4.8%; p = 0.001) and improved Trails B times (116 ± 78 seconds vs 167 ± 110 seconds; p = 0.007) in those with impaired neurovascular coupling at baseline.
Conclusion: There is a strong correlation between neurovascular coupling and cognitive function, and both can be improved by regular cocoa consumption in individuals with baseline impairments. Better neurovascular coupling is also associated with greater white matter structural integrity.
GLOSSARY
- ACA=
- anterior cerebral artery;
- AD=
- Alzheimer disease;
- BFV=
- blood flow velocity;
- BFVIDX=
- blood flow velocity during Identify X;
- BFVNB=
- blood flow velocity during N-Back;
- DBP=
- diastolic blood pressure;
- DTI=
- diffusion tensor imaging;
- FA=
- fractional anisotropy;
- MCA=
- middle cerebral artery;
- MD=
- mean diffusivity;
- NVC=
- neurovascular coupling;
- SBP=
- systolic blood pressure;
- TCD=
- transcranial Doppler;
- VR=
- vasoreactivity;
- WMH=
- white matter hyperintensities
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Supplemental data at www.neurology.org
Editorial, page 863
- Received November 29, 2012.
- Accepted in final form May 6, 2013.
- © 2013 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
- Cocoa may inhibit adenosine receptors modulating the blood brain barrier at the neurovascular unit improving cognition and white matter integrity.
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
More Online
Topics Discussed
Alert Me
Recommended articles
Cocoa, neurovascular coupling, and neurodegeneration
Involvement of the healthy hemisphere in recovery from aphasia and motor deficit in patients with cortical ischemic infarction
Cerebrovascular regulation, exercise, and mild traumatic brain injury
Cerebral blood flow velocity decreases during cognitive stimulation in Huntington's disease