Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Mild vascular cognitive impairment (mVCI) is the precursor stage to vascular cognitive impairment and is associated with a higher risk of the most common forms of dementia: Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. mVCI is marked by early cognitive deficits arising from cerebrovascular burden and is linked to damage to white matter of the brain that is distinguished on neuroimaging scans as white matter hyperintensities. This condition is more prevalent in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Research has also shown that patients with CAD exhibit elevated levels of oxidative stress, which occurs when the body's antioxidant defenses are overcome by reactive oxygen species produced by metabolic reactions. Oxidative stress has also been linked to the progressive loss of neurons and cognitive decline in aging populations. In the brain, glutathione works to clear up excess reactive oxygen species. Patients in early stages of Alzheimer's disease have exhibited lower levels of glutathione in the blood and brain. However, few studies have explored the relationship between oxidative stress and white matter hyperintensities. Thus, the proposed study will explore the relationship between glutathione levels and damage of brain white matter in patients with CAD. Older adults entering a cardiac rehabilitation program will be administered cognitive tests to determine the level of cognitive deficits. They will then have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of their brain to quantify white matter hyperintensities and a blood draw to analyze for glutathione levels. Understanding how glutathione can relate to early brain changes can influence discovery of new therapies to mitigate the development of dementia in older adults.