Globus Pallidus Iron Relates to Cognitive Impairment in Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence From MRI-Based Meta-Analysis.

Authors

Marthe Mieling, Clara Wiskow, Nico Bunzeck

Published in

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Volume 1556. Issue 1. Pages e70078. Epub Dec 04, 2025.

Abstract

Iron is essential for brain metabolism and cognitive functioning, but excessive levels during healthy and pathological aging can have detrimental effects. Although this notion was supported by several single studies, meta-analytic evidence in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still scarce. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of 23 MRI experiments with, in total, 715 AD patients and 1130 healthy controls (HC). All studies employed iron sensitive markers in basal ganglia structures, thalamus, and hippocampus, together with the Mini-Mental-Status-Examination (MMSE) to quantify cognitive performance. In all regions of interest, significantly higher iron levels were present in people with AD compared to HC, with the most pronounced effects in the putamen followed by the caudate. Importantly, only globus pallidus iron levels were negatively correlated with MMSE performance in AD patients. Our results provide unique evidence that increases in iron levels, especially within basal ganglia structures, which provide a hub for cognitive information processing, are a characteristic hallmark of AD.

PMID:
41342354
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 15 Sep 2026.

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