title: Normal aging in the central nervous system: quantitative MR diffusion-tensor analysis.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to elucidate changes in mean diffusivity (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) using MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the central nervous system during normal aging. We studied 50 normal volunteers (30 men, 20 women; mean age 44.8 +/- 14.0; age range, 21-69 years) without disorders affecting the central nervous system. The frontal, parietal white matter, lentiform nucleus, posterior limb of internal capsule, thalamus, genu and splenium of the corpus callosum were selected for investigation. There was no significant difference in ADC or FA between male and female or between the right and left hemisphere. A significant ADC increase with advancing age was observed in frontal white matter (P = 0.010) and lentiform nucleus (P = 0.022). A significant FA decline was found only in the genu of the corpus callosum (P < 0.001) with advancing age. Quantitative diffusion tensor analysis correlate with normal aging and may help in assessing normal age-related changes and serve as a standard for comparison with neurodegenerative disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8655 Tokyo, Japan. abediag-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Haruyasu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kunimatsu
authors.forename: Harushi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Takeharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.forename: Kuni
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohtomo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004058:Diffusion; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water