Age-related assessment of diffusion parameters in specific brain tracts correlated with cortical thinning

Autor(es)

Pinto, Maira Siqueira ^[1] ; dos Santos, Antonio Carlos ^[2] ; Salmon, Carlos Ernesto Garrido ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, InBrain Lab, Dept Phys, Fac Philosophy Sci & Letters Ribeirao Preto, Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Internal Med, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES; v. 42, n. 5 SEP 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

The aging process is associated with many brain structural alterations. These changes are not associated with neuronal loss but can be due to cortical structural changes that may be related to white matter (WM) structural alterations. In this study, we evaluated age-related changes in WM and gray matter (GM) parameters and how they correlate for specific brain tracts in a cohort of 158 healthy individuals, aged between 18 and 83 years old. In the tract-cortical analysis, cortical regions connected by tracts demonstrated similar thinning patterns for the majority of tracts. Additionally, a significant relationship was found between mean cortical thinning rate with fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) alteration rates. For all tracts, age was the main effect controlling diffusion parameter alterations. We found no direct correlations between cortical thickness and FA or MD, except for in the fornix, for which the subcallosal gyrus thickness was significantly correlated to FA and MD (p< 0.05 FDR corrected). Our findings lead to the conclusion that alterations in the WM diffusion parameters are explained by the aging process, also associated with cortical thickness changes. Also, the alteration rates of the structural parameters are correlated to the different brain tracts in the aging process. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/26227-7 - Estudo da conectividade estrutural cerebral no envelhecimento sadio baseado em tratos
• Beneficiário: Maíra Siqueira Pinto
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado