Although the APOE4 genotype is known to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the mechanisms through which this occurs are not fully understood. Here, we used a voxel-wise multivariate approach, the Mahalanobis distance (MhD), to quantify the extent to which the white matter microstructure of individuals with the APOE4 genotype differ from those without the E4 allele. The MhD of individuals with the E4 allele deviated significantly from our reference group in several regions, including tracts projecting to the hippocampus, a region known for its involvement in AD. Future work will investigate links with cognition and lifestyle factors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.