title: The effect of education on regional brain metabolism and its functional connectivity in an aged population utilizing positron emission tomography.
abstract: Education involves learning new information and acquiring cognitive skills. These require various cognitive processes including learning, memory, and language. Since cognitive processes activate associated brain areas, we proposed that the brains of elderly people with longer education periods would show traces of repeated activation as increased synaptic connectivity and capillary in brain areas involved in learning, memory, and language. Utilizing positron emission topography (PET), this study examined the effect of education in the human brain utilizing the regional cerebral glucose metabolism rates (rCMRglcs). 26 elderly women with high-level education (HEG) and 26 with low-level education (LEG) were compared with regard to their regional brain activation and association between the regions. Further, graphical theoretical analysis using rCMRglcs was applied to examine differences in the functional network properties of the brain. The results showed that the HEG had higher rCMRglc in the ventral cerebral regions that are mainly involved in memory, language, and neurogenesis, while the LEG had higher rCMRglc in apical areas of the cerebrum mainly involved in motor and somatosensory functions. Functional connectivity investigated with graph theoretical analysis illustrated that the brain of the HEG compared to those of the LEG were overall more efficient, more resilient, and characterized by small-worldness. This may be one of the brain's mechanisms mediating the reserve effects found in people with higher education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jaeik
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: jychey@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jeanyung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chey
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Transdisciplinary Studies, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Psychology, Chunbuk National University, Cheonju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hoyoung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Connectivity; Glucose metabolism; Graph analysis; Language; Memory; Reserve effect