title: In vivo assessment of iron content of the cerebral cortex in healthy aging using 7-Tesla T2*-weighted phase imaging.
abstract: Accumulation of brain iron has been suggested as a biomarker of neurodegeneration. Increased iron has been seen in the cerebral cortex in postmortem studies of neurodegenerative diseases and healthy aging. Until recently, the diminutive thickness of the cortex and its relatively low iron content have hampered in vivo study of cortical iron accumulation. Using phase images of a T2*-weighted sequence at ultrahigh field strength (7 Tesla), we examined the iron content of 22 cortical regions in 70 healthy subjects aged 22-80 years. The cortex was automatically segmented and parcellated, and phase shift was analyzed using an in-house developed method. We found a significant increase in phase shift with age in 20 of 22 cortical regions, concurrent with current understanding of cortical iron accumulation. Our findings suggest that increased cortical iron content can be assessed in healthy aging in vivo. The high spatial resolution and sensitivity to iron of our method make it a potentially useful tool for studying cortical iron accumulation in healthy aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. Electronic address: m.buijs@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Mathijs
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buijs
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Division of Image Processing (LKEB), Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nhat Trung
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sanneke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Rooden
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maarten J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Versluis
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Division of Image Processing (LKEB), Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Baldur
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Lew
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Division of Image Processing (LKEB), Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milles
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Grond
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Buchem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007501:Iron
keywords: 7 Tesla; Aging; Cerebral cortex; Iron; MRI; Phase