Selective aging of the human cerebral cortex observed in vivo: differential vulnerability of the prefrontal gray matter

Abstract

In a prospective cross-sectional study, we used computerized volumetry of magnetic resonance images to examine the patterns of brain aging in 148 healthy volunteers. The most substantial age-related decline was found in the volume of the prefrontal gray matter. Smaller age-related differences were observed in the volume of the fusiform, inferior temporal and superior parietal cortices. The effects of age on the hippocampal formation, the postcentral gyrus, prefrontal white matter and superior parietal white matter were even weaker. No significant age-related differences were observed in the parahippocampal and anterior cingulate gyri, inferior parietal lobule, pericalcarine gray matter, the precentral gray and white matter, postcentral white matter and inferior parietal white matter. The volume of the total brain volume and the hippocampal formation was larger in men than in women even after adjustment for height. Inferior temporal cortex showed steeper aging trend in men. Small but consistent rightward asymmetry was found in the whole cerebral hemispheres, superior parietal, fusiform and orbito-frontal cortices, postcentral and prefrontal white matter. The left side was larger than the right in the dorsolateral prefrontal, parahippocampal, inferior parietal and pericalcarine cortices, and in the parietal white matter. However, there were no significant differences in age trends between the hemispheres.

MR-based in vivo hippocampal volumetrics: 1. Review of methodologies currently employed

“…Several studies have shown 113 that the volume of the hippocampal formation is larger in men than in women. 1,72,114 In developing children aged 4-18 years, the hippocampus increases with age. 115 In men, the hippocampus declines with age, starting in the third life decade.…”

The relation between global and limbic brain volumes on MRI and cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the age range

“…Volumes of hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus were found to decline significantly with age. Several authors have reported similar age-related volume decreases in these regions [8,9,12,18,26,31]. However, other authors have failed to find such a decline in medial temporal lobe volumes [24,31,37].…”

“…Several authors have reported similar age-related volume decreases in these regions [8,9,12,18,26,31]. However, other authors have failed to find such a decline in medial temporal lobe volumes [24,31,37]. Linear increases with advancing age were found for the volume of the third ventricle (taken as an index for atrophy of the dorsomedial thalamus [19]).…”

“…Neuroimaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have substantiated the findings from postmortem studies (see [34], for a review) that nonpathological aging is associated with considerable morphological brain changes. Widening of the ventricular and sulcal liquor spaces is clearly evident in elderly persons [2,6,8,21,22,27], and studies that directly measured brain volume have found age-related reductions in total and gray (but not white) matter volumes [8,21,30,31]. This atrophy seems to occur particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes [8,31], and also in subcortical regions [20].…”

Prefrontal Neuropsychological Predictors of Treatment Remission in Late-Life Depression

“…While the involvement of prefrontal cortex in Major Depressive Disorder has been well documented (Mayberg et al, 1994;Bench et al, 1992), it is an especially salient issue in geriatric depression because this region of the brain is associated with disproportionate age-related decline (Raz et al, 1997). In particular, MRI findings of deep white matter hyperintensities involving frontal-subcortical pathways are associated with both chronicity and cognitive impairment in late-life depression (Krishnan et al, 1998;Steffens et al, 2000;Lesser et al, 1996).…”