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Diet-associated and white matter microstructure-moderated interindividual variability in executive attention performance

Authors :
Brecht, Anne-Kathrin
Medawar, Evelyn
Witte, Veronica
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Open Science Framework, 2022.

Abstract

Tyrosine is the precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA), which is known to modulate various cognitive functions such as executive attention (Posner et al., 2006). Research findings suggest that dopamine-modulated cognitive performance can be influenced by tyrosine supplementation via direct single-dose administration or indirect habitual food intake (Aquili, 2020; Hase et al., 2015; Jongkees et al., 2015; Van De Rest et al., 2013; Young, 1996). However, results are still mixed, not only regarding the presence or strength, but also the direction of the association between tyrosine supplementation and cognitive functioning. Therefore, the aim of the study is to elucidate the relationship between diet-associated availability of tyrosine in blood and the efficiency of the dopaminergic executive attention network. To this end, we conduct a cross-sectional analysis with 61 healthy, overweight subjects. We measured serum tyrosine levels and performance in the attention network test (ANT) to investigate the relationship between serum tyrosine and executive attention performance (serum precursor-function relationship). Because the strength and direction of dopaminergic drugs effects depend on differences in white matter microstructure of pathways associated with the targeted cognitive function (van der Schaaf et al., 2013; Van Schouwenburg et al., 2013), we acquired diffusion tensor images (DTI). For data analysis of executive attention performance, a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed. In addition, individual differences in the efficiency of the three attention networks are quantified by calculating alerting, orienting, and conflict effects (Fan et al., 2005). Using these conflict effects as a measure of executive attention performance, a linear regression analysis will be performed to examine the serum precursor-function relationship. Additionally, because all large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) enter the brain via a competitive transport system (Wurtman et al., 2003), the proportional amount of serum tyrosine relative to the other six LNAAs will be computed as an index of brain dopamine levels and added to the model. Furthermore, a whole-brain analysis correlating Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values with conflict scores is performed to reveal possible structure-function relationships. Subsequently, mean FA values of significant clusters will be computed to perform a moderation analysis aiming to investigate if the serum precursor-function relationship is moderated by interindividual differences in white matter microstructure of the executive attention network. Finally, to investigate whether serum tyrosine levels can be predicted by interindividual differences in dietary behavior, we compute dietary tyrosine intake based on self-reported food consumption.

Details

Database :
OpenAIRE
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........baab8cfdd0901032a652639252e8ba1c
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/hbjyr