Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment

Abstract INTRODUCTION Eye movement alterations are effective biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examines task‐evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) as potential biomarkers of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the symptomatic stage preceding AD. METHODS The prospective cohort st...

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Main Authors: Julius Opwonya, Kahye Kim, Kun Ho Lee, Joong Il Kim, Jaeuk U. Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-10-01
Series:Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70019
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author Julius Opwonya
Kahye Kim
Kun Ho Lee
Joong Il Kim
Jaeuk U. Kim
author_facet Julius Opwonya
Kahye Kim
Kun Ho Lee
Joong Il Kim
Jaeuk U. Kim
author_sort Julius Opwonya
collection DOAJ
description Abstract INTRODUCTION Eye movement alterations are effective biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examines task‐evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) as potential biomarkers of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the symptomatic stage preceding AD. METHODS The prospective cohort study included 213 MCI patients and 514 cognitively normal controls (CNs). Participants performed a prosaccade (PS) or antisaccade (AS) task while their eye movements were tracked using a Tobii Pro Spectrum system. RESULTS The CNs showed unique TEPRs linked to better performance, characterized by larger baselines, greater PS target‐onset variability, and smaller AS target‐onset variability. Conversely, for MCI patients, better performance was linked to larger AS target‐onset sizes. Furthermore, MCI patients displayed reduced dilation during the cue and target‐onset periods compared to CNs. DISCUSSION MCI patients showed altered pupillary response patterns associated with cognitive task performance, highlighting the potential of oculomotor changes as a biomarker for early cognitive decline. Highlights MCI patients displayed markedly smaller pupil dilation than CNs in response to cue and target stimuli. For MCI patients, larger pupil size upon target appearance during antisaccades correlated with better performance. Faster and more consistent prosaccades were linked to better performance in both groups. For MCI patients, the association between longer AS latencies and better performance was more pronounced than in CNs. Combined analysis of TEPRs and saccade performances in a sizeable cohort strengthens the generalizability of our findings to the broader MCI population.
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spelling doaj-art-c4bc7a454e0348c7978403997bc1888e2025-08-20T02:00:55ZengWileyAlzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring2352-87292024-10-01164n/an/a10.1002/dad2.70019Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairmentJulius Opwonya0Kahye Kim1Kun Ho Lee2Joong Il Kim3Jaeuk U. Kim4Digital Health Research DivisionKorea Institute of Oriental MedicineDaejeonSouth KoreaDigital Health Research DivisionKorea Institute of Oriental MedicineDaejeonSouth KoreaGwangju Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (GARD) Cohort Research CenterChosun UniversityGwangjuSouth KoreaDigital Health Research DivisionKorea Institute of Oriental MedicineDaejeonSouth KoreaDigital Health Research DivisionKorea Institute of Oriental MedicineDaejeonSouth KoreaAbstract INTRODUCTION Eye movement alterations are effective biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examines task‐evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) as potential biomarkers of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the symptomatic stage preceding AD. METHODS The prospective cohort study included 213 MCI patients and 514 cognitively normal controls (CNs). Participants performed a prosaccade (PS) or antisaccade (AS) task while their eye movements were tracked using a Tobii Pro Spectrum system. RESULTS The CNs showed unique TEPRs linked to better performance, characterized by larger baselines, greater PS target‐onset variability, and smaller AS target‐onset variability. Conversely, for MCI patients, better performance was linked to larger AS target‐onset sizes. Furthermore, MCI patients displayed reduced dilation during the cue and target‐onset periods compared to CNs. DISCUSSION MCI patients showed altered pupillary response patterns associated with cognitive task performance, highlighting the potential of oculomotor changes as a biomarker for early cognitive decline. Highlights MCI patients displayed markedly smaller pupil dilation than CNs in response to cue and target stimuli. For MCI patients, larger pupil size upon target appearance during antisaccades correlated with better performance. Faster and more consistent prosaccades were linked to better performance in both groups. For MCI patients, the association between longer AS latencies and better performance was more pronounced than in CNs. Combined analysis of TEPRs and saccade performances in a sizeable cohort strengthens the generalizability of our findings to the broader MCI population.https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70019locus coeruleusmild cognitive impairmentoculomotorpretectal olivary nucleuspupil sizesaccades
spellingShingle Julius Opwonya
Kahye Kim
Kun Ho Lee
Joong Il Kim
Jaeuk U. Kim
Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring
locus coeruleus
mild cognitive impairment
oculomotor
pretectal olivary nucleus
pupil size
saccades
title Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
title_full Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
title_fullStr Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
title_full_unstemmed Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
title_short Task‐evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
title_sort task evoked pupillary responses as potential biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
topic locus coeruleus
mild cognitive impairment
oculomotor
pretectal olivary nucleus
pupil size
saccades
url https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70019
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