Retinal Microvascular Correlates of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease in Older Age
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), characterized by pathologic changes in the structure and function of small brain vessels, is detectable on brain MRI in the absence of clinical symptoms. However, imaging cerebral small vessels themselves in vivo remains costly and challenging. There is growing interest in investigating whether retinal microvascular imaging features could be proxies for changes in the brain microvasculature. Using a multipronged approach, we explored the relation of retinal microvascular characteristics with MRI markers of cSVD (MRI-cSVD). METHODS: First, we explored this relationship in older community persons from the population-based 3C-Dijon cohort. MRI-cSVD was assessed on a 1.5-Tesla MRI at baseline, comprising white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV), lacunes, and a composite extreme cSVD phenotype (WMHV extreme distributions and presence/absence of lacunes). At 10-year follow-up, participants underwent measurements of retinal microvascular features on fundus using the Singapore "I" Vessel Assessment software. To support 3C-Dijon findings, we conducted a comprehensive literature review up to July 2024 from PubMed/EMBASE and used 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) leveraging large-scale genome-wide association studies, to assess causality and directionality. RESULTS: = 0.0017 and 0.049), with no evidence for reverse causation. DISCUSSION: We provide multimodal evidence that geometric characteristics of the retinal microvasculature are associated with increased burden of MRI-cSVD and possibly worse executive function.
Source: Neurology
Authors: Louis Arnould, Aïcha Soumaré, Timothy D'Aoust, Sara Cristina Lima Rebouças, Constance Bordes, Fabrice Crivello, Jean-François Korobelnik, Michel Paques, Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, Aniket Mishra, Yi-Cheng Zhu, Cécile Delcourt, Catherine Helmer, Anthony Khawaja, Pirro Hysi, Christine Binquet, Catherine Creuzot-Garcher, Stéphanie Debette
Institutions: CHU Dijon Bourgogne, Université Bourgogne Europe, Université de Bordeaux, Inserm, Université de Bourgogne, Bordeaux Population Health, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, Centre hospitalier national d'ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, Sorbonne Université, The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Institut Agro Dijon, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: Sanofi, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Fondation de France, Université de Bourgogne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Conseil régional de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Awards: Stopping cognitive decline and dementia by fighting covert cerebral small vessel disease, Lipoprotéines et santé : prévention et traitement des maladies inflammatoires non vasculaires et du cancer, Vaincre les maladies vasculaires cérébrales par un nouveau paradigme de prévention de précision et d’innovation thérapeutique
OpenAlex ID: W4415333175