Diffusion tensor metrics, T2 relaxation, and volumetry of the naturally aging human caudate nuclei in healthy young and middle-aged adults: possible implications for the neurobiology of human brain aging and disease.
In this study of a cohort of 33 young and middle-age adults (19-59 years) we report simultaneous measurements of normal age-related changes in the caudate nuclei volume, diffusion tensor metrics, and T(2) relaxation time. Both the absolute caudate volume and its ratio relative to the total intracranial volume decreased rapidly with age in both men and women (r = -0.55; P < 0.001). The fractional diffusion tensor anisotropy of the caudate nuclei increased with age in both males and females (r = 0.48; P = 0.005). The corresponding age correlations of the caudate axial (r = 0.17; P = 0.35), transverse (r = -0.12; P = 0.50), mean diffusivities (r = 0.018; P = 0.92), and T(2) relaxation times (r = 0.194; P = 0.28) were weaker and did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). Our preliminary findings warrant further studies on the older and aging adults and indicate that caudate diffusion tensor imaging-derived metrics can be used as surrogates in modeling the neuronal substrates of gray matter atrophy.
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston Texas, USA. Khader.M.Hasan@uth.tmc.edu
Khader M
KM
Hasan
Christopher
C
Halphen
Michael D
MD
Boska
Ponnada A
PA
Narayana
D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016880:Anisotropy; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric