High-frequency EEG activity moderates the association between amyloid burden and tau in cognitively normal adults

In 21 cognitively normal older adults, higher parietal periodic gamma power is linked to higher medial temporal lobe tau only among beta-amyloid-positive participants, with beta=+0.90 (p=0.002) in entorhinal cortex.

• Why it matters: Early excitatory–inhibitory imbalance may be detectable before symptoms, but how resting EEG relates to beta-amyloid and tau in cognitively normal adults is unclear.
• What they did: Using resting-state EEG and beta-amyloid PET, the study tested four parietal E-I/excitability measures (periodic gamma power, alpha-gamma and theta-gamma PAC, and aperiodic exponent) against beta-amyloid burden and early MTL tau, adjusting for age and sex.
• The result: Beta-amyloid burden was associated with higher periodic gamma power (beta=+0.50, p=0.025), and periodic gamma moderated the beta-amyloid–MTL tau association (p=0.012), suggesting an EEG marker of beta-amyloid-related E-I imbalance.

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