Age-related non-Gaussian diffusion patterns in the prefrontal brain.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize age-related MR diffusion patterns of the prefrontal brain cortex microstructure using a new method for investigating the non-Gaussian behavior of water diffusion called diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI).


METHODS
Measures of mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean kurtosis (MK) were compared in the prefrontal brain cortex of 24 healthy volunteers (adolescents, young adults, and elderly) ranging from age 13 to 85 years. A Mann-Whitney test was used to compare subject groups with respect to the diffusion measures, and linear regression was used to characterize the change in each diffusion measure as a function of age.


RESULTS
We found significant age-related changes in the elderly adult group, with increase of MD and decrease of FA.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study demonstrates distinct mean kurtosis patterns for different age-ranges, with significant age-related correlation for mean kurtosis (MK) and MK peak position, showing that diffusional kurtosis is able to characterize and measure age-related diffusion changes for both grey and white matter, in the developing and aging brain.
Falangola
Maria F
MF
Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. maria.falangola@med.nyu.edu
Jensen
Jens H
JH
Babb
James S
JS
Hu
Caixia
C
Castellanos
Francisco X
FX
Di Martino
Adriana
A
Ferris
Steven H
SH
Helpern
Joseph A
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D016880:Anisotropy; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric