Regional diffusion changes of cerebral grey matter during normal aging--a fluid-inversion prepared diffusion imaging study.
OBJECTIVE
Although diffusion characteristics of white matter (WM) and its aging effects have been well described in the literature, diffusion characteristics of grey matter (GM), especially the cortical GM, have not been fully evaluated. In the present study, we used the fluid-inversion prepared diffusion imaging (FLIPD) technique to determine if there are age-related water diffusivity changes in GM.


METHODS
120 healthy volunteers were recruited for our study. They were divided into three age groups: group one (20-39 years old), group two (40-59 years old) and group three (60 years or older). All patients were evaluated with MRI using FLIPD at 3.0T. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the frontal GM, cingulate cortex and thalami were determined bilaterally by region-of-interest analysis.


RESULTS
Group three had significantly higher ADC values in both thalami and the left frontal GM compared to group two or group one. No ADC value difference was found among the three groups in the right frontal GM and bilateral cingulate cortex. There was a significant positive correlation between individual ADC values and age in both thalami and left frontal GM. For the cingulate cortex and the right frontal GM, ADC values did not correlate significantly with advancing age.


CONCLUSIONS
Statistically significant age-related diffusion changes were observed in both thalami and the left frontal cortex. The data reported here may serve as a reference for future studies.
Ni
Jian-ming
JM
Radiology Department, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 12 Urumqi Middle Road, Shanghai 200040, China.
Chen
Shuang
S
Liu
Jian-jun
JJ
Huang
Gang
G
Shen
Tian-zhen
TZ
Chen
Xing-rong
XR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult