Healthy Aging

Abstract

Morphologic alterations of human brain manifested regional heterogeneity in the scenario of general volume loss during healthy aging. The age effect on the hippocampus demonstrated a unique evolution. These findings provide informative reference knowledge that may help in identifying and differentiating pathologic aging and other neurologic disorders.

Subcortical volumetric changes across the adult lifespan: Subregional thalamic atrophy accounts for age-related sensorimotor performance declines

“…Significant negative correlations, indicative of age-related atrophy, were found in the bilateral thalamus, putamen and caudate, but not in the pallidum. The observed atrophy with increasing age in the thalamus, putamen and caudate is generally in line with accumulating evidence from previous cross-sectional studies (Cherubini et al, 2009;Fjell et al, 2013 (not caudate); Goodro et al, 2012;Greenberg et al, 2008;Gunning-Dixon et al, 1998;Hasan, Halphen, Boska, & Narayana, 2008;Hughes et al, 2012;Inano et al, 2013 (not caudate);Jancke et al, 2014;Krishnan et al, 1990;Li et al, 2014 (not caudate); Long et al, 2012;Luft et al, 1999;Sullivan, Rosenbloom, Serventi, & Pfefferbaum, 2004;Van Der Werf et al, 2001;Walhovd et al, 2005Walhovd et al, , 2011Xu et al, 2000) and longitudinal studies (Fjell et al, 2013;Raz et al, 2005Raz et al, , 2003. Findings with respect to pallidal volumetric changes during aging have been less consistent.…”

“…Findings with respect to pallidal volumetric changes during aging have been less consistent. Our finding, indicating lack of significant volume declines, is in line with several previous studies (Cherubini et al, 2009;Gunning-Dixon et al, 1998;Inano et al, 2013;Jernigan et al, 2001;Luft et al, 1999;Raz et al, 2003;Walhovd et al, 2005), but in contrast to other studies reporting agerelated pallidal atrophy (Fjell et al, 2013;Goodro et al, 2012;Jancke et al, 2014;Jiang et al, 2014 (only in left pallidum);Li et al, 2014 (only trendwise);Long et al, 2012;Walhovd et al, 2011). These diverging results are likely due to heterogeneity in participant samples, segmentation approaches, region of interest definitions, and statistical corrections and thresholding.…”

“…Accordingly, the identification of age-related expansion as well as atrophy in the pallidum using shape analyses might explain why no relation was found between global pallidal volume and age in the current study. Interestingly, previous studies that observed age-related expansion similar to ours interpreted their findings as possibly due to an artifact (Lemaitre et al, 2005), image processing methodology (Long et al, 2012), and inaccurate registration (Goodro et al, 2012). However, the accumulating evidence of regional age-related expansion suggests that these findings could reflect genuine changes, which definitely require further investigation.…”

“…Furthermore, patients with subcortical impairments, such as patients with Parkinson's disease or with subcortical lesions, have been shown to experience difficulties with bimanual performance (Haaxma et al, 1995;Johnson et al, 1998;Kuoppamaki et al, 2005;Mochizuki-Kawai et al, 2004;Serrien, Steyvers, Debaere, Stelmach, & Swinnen, 2000;Swinnen, Steyvers, Van Den Bergh, & Stelmach, 2000;Verschueren, Swinnen, Dom, & De Weerdt, 1997). Based on previous indications that subcortical gray matter structures undergo age-related degenerative changes (Cherubini, Peran, Caltagirone, Sabatini, & Spalletta, 2009;Fjell et al, 2013;Goodro, Sameti, Patenaude, & Fein, 2012;Gunning-Dixon, Head, McQuain, Acker, & Raz, 1998;Hughes et al, 2012;Inano et al, 2013;Jancke, Merillat, Liem, & Hanggi, 2014;Jiang et al, 2014;Li et al, 2014;Long et al, 2012;Walhovd et al, 2005Walhovd et al, , 2011, investigating the relationship between these changes and bimanual functioning may help in unraveling the neural basis of age-related bimanual performance declines.…”

Thalamic functional connectivity and its association with behavioral performance in older age

“…Similarly, a DTI study of 121 participants (aged 18–61 year) observed that motor task performance was negatively associated with thalamo‐precentral gyrus connectivity (radial diffusivity), while better verbal memory scores were positively associated with the number of thalamic voxels characterized as being “connected” to frontal, parietal, and temporal ROIs (Philp, Korgaonkar, & Grieve, 2014). Furthermore, gross morphometric alterations to the thalamus with advanced age have also been reported (Goodro, Sameti, Patenaude, & Fein, 2012; Long et al., 2012; Serbruyns et al., 2015; Sullivan, Rosenbloom, Serventi, & Pfefferbaum, 2004), although not universally (Good et al, 2001). …”