One-year Age Changes in MRI Brain Volumes in Older Adults

Abstract

Longitudinal studies indicate that declines in cognition and memory accelerate after age 70 years. The neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic underpinnings of cognitive change are unclear, as there is little information on longitudinal brain changes. We are conducting a longitudinal neuroimaging study of nondemented older participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. This report focuses on age and sex differences in brain structure measured by magnetic resonance imaging during the first two annual evaluations. Cross-sectional results from 116 participants aged 59-85 years reveal significantly larger ventricular volumes and smaller gray and white matter volumes in older compared with younger participants and in men compared with women. Regional brain volumes show that the effects of age and sex are not uniform across brain regions. Age differences are greatest for the parietal region. Sex differences tend to be larger for frontal and temporal than parietal and occipital regions. Longitudinal analysis demonstrates an increase of 1526 mm(3) in ventricular volume over 1 year, but no detectable change in total or regional brain volumes. Definition of the pattern and rate of longitudinal brain changes will facilitate the detection of pathological brain changes, which may be predictors of dementia.

Assessment of nutritional interventions for modification of age-associated cognitive decline using a canine model of human aging

“…Further, the frontal lobes selectively atrophy in aged dogs prior to overall brain atrophy (Tapp et al 2004a). This pattern of frontal lobe-based deficits is consistent with humans, where frontal lobe volume is correlated with impairment in executive function (GunningDixon and Raz 2003) and is highly sensitive to age (Jernigan et al 2001;Resnick et al 2000).…”

CRUISE: Cortical reconstruction using implicit surface evolution

“…We have applied CRUISE with the same set of default parameters (as given in Methods when each component algorithm was presented) to nearly three hundred MR brain images obtained from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging (Resnick et al, 2000). Visual inspection of the surface reconstruction results has verified that the method worked successfully each time.…”

Age-related changes in human and non-human primate white matter: from myelination disturbances to cognitive decline

“…The Baltimore Longitudinal Study reported age-related changes in MRIderived signal intensity, which was believed to reflect demyelination and changes in water, protein, and mineral content in the old (Davatzikos and Resnick 2002). Results from the same study also reported that while WM volume was stable after 1 year in old subjects (Resnick et al 2000), it decreased regionally and globally after 4 years (Resnick et al 2003), suggestive that a critical age threshold was achieved. Functionally, longitudinal studies have shown WM atrophy in the CC of elderly men is associated with cognitive dysfunction (Sullivan et al 2002).…”