title: Youthful memory capacity in old brains: anatomic and genetic clues from the Northwestern SuperAging Project.
abstract: The Northwestern University SuperAging Project recruits community dwellers over the age of 80 who have unusually high performance on tests of episodic memory. In a previous report, a small cohort of SuperAgers was found to have higher cortical thickness on structural MRI than a group of age-matched but cognitively average peers. SuperAgers also displayed a patch of ACC where cortical thickness was higher than in 50- to 60-year-old younger cognitively healthy adults. In additional analyses, some SuperAgers had unusually low densities of age-related Alzheimer pathology and unusually high numbers of von Economo neurons in the anterior cingulate gyrus. SuperAgers were also found to have a lower frequency of the ɛ4 allele of apolipoprotein E than the general population. These preliminary results show that above-average memory capacity can be encountered in advanced age. They also offer clues to potential biological factors that may promote resistance to age-related involutional changes in the structure and function of the brain.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Northwestern University, 320 E Superior Street, 11th Floor Searle Building, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. erogalski@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rogalski
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gefen
authors.forename: Junzi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Mehrnoosh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samimi
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bigio
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weintraub
authors.forename: Changiz
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geula
authors.forename: M-Marsel
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mesulam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000483:Alleles; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4