Association of copper levels in the hair with gray matter volume, mean diffusivity, and cognitive functions

Abstract

Although copper plays a critical role in normal brain functions and development, it is known that excess copper causes toxicity. Here we investigated the associations of copper levels in the hair with regional gray matter volume (rGMV), mean diffusivity (MD), and cognitive differences in a study cohort of 924 healthy young adults. Our findings showed that high copper levels were associated mostly with low cognitive abilities (low scores on the intelligence test consisting of complex speed tasks, involving reasoning task, a complex arithmetic task, and a reading comprehension task) as well as lower reverse Stroop interference, high rGMV over widespread areas of the brain [mainly including the bilateral lateral and medial parietal cortices, medial temporal structures (amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus), middle cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, perisylvian areas, inferior temporal lobe, temporal pole, occipital lobes, and supplementary motor area], as well as high MD of the right substantia nigra and bilateral hippocampus, which are indicative of low density in brain tissues. These results suggest that copper levels are associated with mostly aberrant cognitive functions, greater rGMV in extensive areas, greater MD (which are indicative of low density in brain tissues) in subcortical structures in the healthy young adults, possibly reflecting copper's complex roles in neural mechanisms.

Succeeding in deactivating: associations of hair zinc levels with functional and structural neural mechanisms

“…Self-reported height, and BMI are included as covariates to exclude confounding effects of these as these variables often correlate with body mineral levels (in the case of zinc, after correcting the effects of age and sex, BMI was significantly negatively correlated with hair zinc levels, p = 0.002, although, height was not). And this is in accordance with our studies 17 , 60 .…”

Copper imbalance in Alzheimer’s disease: Convergence of the chemistry and the clinic

“…High copper plasma concentrations have been associated with loss of cognitive performance in normal women (Table 1) [235], and a poorer working memory and attention in children [236] and adolescents [237] (Table 1). A recent study found that copper in hair correlates with low cognitive abilities, high regional gray matter volume over widespread areas of the brain, and larger indices of low density in brain tissues (Table 1) [238]. As a whole, these studies indicate that elevated noncp-Cu is associated with loss of cognitive performance.…”

Mercury levels in hair are associated with reduced neurobehavioral performance and altered brain structures in young adults

“…In addition, subjects were instructed to avoid alcohol the night before the assessment. The descriptions in this subsection were mostly reproduced from another study of ours from the same project using the exactly same methods 45 .…”

“…These additional analyses, including that of hair perm history as a covariate, did not substantially affect the strength of significant associations in the present study. The descriptions in this subsection were mostly reproduced from our previous study 45 , 47 , which used the similar methods.…”