title: Age-related relative volume preservation of the dominant hand cortical region.
abstract: Aging is usually associated with a progressive difficulty in learning new skills. Similarly, the dexterity in the non-dominant hand is usually decreased with age, while the dominant hand maintains a relative preservation in agility. We investigated if age-related volume loss affects the hand areas asymmetrically by comparing structural measures of the dominant hand area versus the non-dominant area. We performed a region of interest analysis of T1-weighted images focusing on the sensorimotor cortex corresponding to the hand area. We evaluated images from young subjects (younger than 65 years of age, n=38, mean age=24+/-7 years) and senior subjects (65 years or older, n=61, mean age =73+/-6 years). We observed that older adults exhibited greater leftward gray matter asymmetry of sensorimotor cortex, due in large part to more pronounced age-related loss of gray matter in the right hemisphere. These results are consistent with evidence that disuse leads to atrophy and suggest that age-related declines in gray matter, and perhaps function, may be limited by increasing the use of the non-dominant hand.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, 96 Jonathan Lucas St, 3rd floor, Charleston, SC 29412, USA. bonilha@musc.edu
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonilha
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Eckert
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fridriksson
authors.forename: Victor A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Hirth
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rorden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009929:Organ Size