Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100033
Vanessa Scarapicchia , Stuart MacDonald , Jodie R. Gawryluk
{"title":"The relationship between cardiovascular risk and lifestyle activities on hippocampal volumes in normative aging","authors":"Vanessa Scarapicchia , Stuart MacDonald , Jodie R. Gawryluk","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100033","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100033","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Despite the life-course perspective of popular aging models, few studies on healthy aging to date have examined both younger and older adulthood. The current study examined how cumulative vascular risk factors and self-reported levels of physical, social, and cognitive activity are associated with differences in hippocampal volumes in healthy younger and older adults.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>34 neurologically healthy participants were separated into two age cohorts: a younger adult group (age 25–35, n = 17) and an older adult group (age 65–82, n = 17). Participants underwent a 3 T T1 MRI and completed a series of questionnaires. Voxel-based morphometry examined whole-brain grey matter density differences between groups. Hippocampal volumes were computed. Analyses examined the association between hippocampal volumes, cumulative vascular risk, and self-reported levels of physical, social, and cognitive activity, both within and across groups.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Between-group comparisons revealed greater cortical atrophy in older relative to young adults in regions including the left and right hippocampus and temporal fusiform cortex. Across-group analyses revealed a significant negative association between cardiovascular risk scores and bilateral hippocampal volumes across age groups. A significant negative association was identified between frequency of social activities and bilateral hippocampal volumes in older adults only. No significant associations were found between left or right hippocampal volumes and total, cognitive, or physical activities in both within- and across-group analyses.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Greater cumulative vascular risk is associated with smaller hippocampal volumes across age cohorts. Findings suggest that social activities with low cognitive load may not be beneficial to structural brain outcomes in older age.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100033"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/f7/5a/main.PMC9999441.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9102678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100053
Janelle T. Foret , Marie Caillaud , Drew D. Gourley , Maria Dekhtyar , Hirofumi Tanaka , Andreana P. Haley
{"title":"Influence of endogenous estrogen on a network model of female brain integrity","authors":"Janelle T. Foret , Marie Caillaud , Drew D. Gourley , Maria Dekhtyar , Hirofumi Tanaka , Andreana P. Haley","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Recent reports document sex differences in midlife brain integrity and metabolic health, such that more relationships are detectable between metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and markers of brain health in females than in males. Midlife is characterized by a rapid decrease in endogenous estrogen levels for women which is thought to increase risk for cardiometabolic disease and neurocognitive decline. Our study used network models, designed to explore the interconnectedness and organization of relationships among many variables at once, to compare the influence of endogenous estrogen and chronological age on a network of brain and metabolic health in order to investigate the utility of estrogen as a biomarker for brain vulnerability. Data were analyzed from 82 females (ages 40–62). Networks consisted of known biomarkers of risk for late-life cognitive decline: the five components of MetS; Brain-predicted age difference calculated on gray and white matter volume; white matter hyperintensities; Default Mode Network functional connectivity; cerebral concentrations of <em>N</em>-acetyl aspartate, glutamate and myo-inositol; and serum concentrations of estradiol. A second network replaced estradiol with chronological age. Expected influence (EI) of estradiol on the network was −1.190, relative to chronological age at −0.524, indicating that estradiol had a stronger expected influence over the network than age. A negative expected influence indicates that higher levels of estradiol would be expected to decrease the number of relationships in the model, which is thought to indicate lower risk. Overall, levels of estradiol appear more influential than chronological age at midlife for relationships between brain integrity and metabolic health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100053"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/2d/00/main.PMC9997143.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9453774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100032
Simon R. Cox , Ian J. Deary
{"title":"Brain and cognitive ageing: The present, and some predictions (…about the future)","authors":"Simon R. Cox , Ian J. Deary","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100032","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100032","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Experiencing decline in one’s cognitive abilities is among the most feared aspects of growing old <span>[53]</span>. Age-related cognitive decline carries a huge personal, societal, and financial cost both in pathological ageing (such as dementias) and also within the non-clinical majority of the population. A projected 152 million people worldwide will suffer from dementia by 2050 <span>[3]</span>. The early stages of cognitive decline are much more prevalent than dementia, and can still impose serious limitations of performance on everyday activities, independence, and quality of life in older age <span>[5]</span>, <span>[60]</span>, <span>[80]</span>. Cognitive decline also predicts poorer health, adherence to medical regimens, and financial decision-making, and can herald dementia, illness, and death <span>[6]</span>, <span>[40]</span>. Of course, when seeking to understand why some people experience more severe cognitive ageing than others, researchers have turned to the organ of thinking for clues about the nature, possible mechanisms, and determinants that might underpin more and less successful cognitive agers. However, that organ is relatively inaccessible, a limitation partly alleviated by advances in neuroimaging. Here we discuss lessons for cognitive and brain ageing that have come from neuroimaging research (especially structural brain imaging), what neuroimaging still has left to teach us, and our views on possible ways forward in this multidisciplinary field.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100032"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9997131/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9666378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100035
Lasse S. Madsen , Rune B. Nielsen , Peter Parbo , Rola Ismail , Irene K. Mikkelsen , Hanne Gottrup , Leif Østergaard , David J. Brooks , Simon F. Eskildsen
{"title":"Capillary function progressively deteriorates in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease: A longitudinal MRI perfusion study","authors":"Lasse S. Madsen , Rune B. Nielsen , Peter Parbo , Rola Ismail , Irene K. Mikkelsen , Hanne Gottrup , Leif Østergaard , David J. Brooks , Simon F. Eskildsen","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cardiovascular risk factors are associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and increasing evidence suggests that cerebral microvascular dysfunction plays a vital role in the disease progression. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the two-year changes of the cerebral microvascular blood flow in 11 mild cognitively impaired (MCI) patients with prodromal AD compared to 12 MCI patients without evidence of AD and 10 cognitively intact age-matched controls. The pAD-MCI patients displayed widespread deterioration in microvascular cerebral perfusion associated with capillary dysfunction. No such changes were observed in the other two groups, suggesting that the dysfunction in capillary perfusion is linked to the AD pathophysiology. The observed capillary dysfunction may limit local oxygenation in AD leading to downstream β-amyloid aggregation, tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation and neuronal dysfunction. The findings are in agreement with the capillary dysfunction hypothesis of AD, suggesting that increasing heterogeneity of capillary blood flow is a primary pathological event in AD.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100035"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/98/52/main.PMC9997144.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9155236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100039
Prabesh Kanel , Sygrid van der Zee , Carlos A. Sanchez-Catasus , Robert A. Koeppe , Peter J.H. Scott , Teus van Laar , Roger L. Albin , Nicolaas I. Bohnen
{"title":"Cerebral topography of vesicular cholinergic transporter changes in neurologically intact adults: A [18F]FEOBV PET study","authors":"Prabesh Kanel , Sygrid van der Zee , Carlos A. Sanchez-Catasus , Robert A. Koeppe , Peter J.H. Scott , Teus van Laar , Roger L. Albin , Nicolaas I. Bohnen","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100039","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100039","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Acetylcholine plays a major role in brain cognitive and motor functions with regional cholinergic terminal loss common in several neurodegenerative disorders. We describe age-related declines of regional cholinergic neuron terminal density <em>in vivo</em> using the positron emission tomography (PET) ligand [<sup>18</sup>F](–)5-Fluoroethoxybenzovesamicol ([<sup>18</sup>F]FEOBV), a vesamicol analogue selectively binding to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). A total of 42 subjects without clinical evidence of neurologic disease (mean 50.55 [range 20–80] years, 24 Male/18 Female) underwent [<sup>18</sup>F]FEOBV brain PET imaging. We used SPM based voxel-wise statistical analysis to perform whole brain voxel-based parametric analysis (family-wise error corrected, FWE) and to also extract the most significant clusters of regions correlating with aging with gender as nuisance variable. Age-related VAChT binding reductions were found in primary sensorimotor cortex, visual cortex, caudate nucleus, anterior to mid-cingulum, bilateral insula, <em>para</em>-hippocampus, hippocampus, anterior temporal lobes/amygdala, dorsomedial thalamus, metathalamus, and cerebellum (gender and FWE-corrected, P < 0.05). These findings show a specific topographic pattern of regional vulnerability of cholinergic nerve terminals across multiple cholinergic systems accompanying aging.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100039"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589958922000111/pdfft?md5=c347c31ab362a604e61be2588ede41b2&pid=1-s2.0-S2589958922000111-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46197838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2021.100027
Jarkko Johansson , Anders Wåhlin , Anders Lundquist , Andreas M. Brandmaier , Ulman Lindenberger , Lars Nyberg
{"title":"Model of brain maintenance reveals specific change-change association between medial-temporal lobe integrity and episodic memory","authors":"Jarkko Johansson , Anders Wåhlin , Anders Lundquist , Andreas M. Brandmaier , Ulman Lindenberger , Lars Nyberg","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2021.100027","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2021.100027","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Brain maintenance has been identified as a major determinant of successful memory aging. However, the extent to which brain maintenance in support of successful memory aging is specific to memory-related brain regions or forms part of a brain-wide phenomenon is unresolved. Here, we used longitudinal brain-wide gray matter MRI volumes in 262 healthy participants aged 55 to 80 years at baseline to investigate separable dimensions of brain atrophy, and explored the links of these dimensions to different dimensions of cognitive change. We statistically adjusted for common causes of change in both brain and cognition to reveal a potentially unique signature of brain maintenance related to successful memory aging. Critically, medial temporal lobe (MTL)/hippocampal change and episodic memory change were characterized by unique, residual variance beyond general factors of change in brain and cognition, and a reliable association between these two residualized variables was established (<em>r</em> = 0.36, p < 0.01). The present study is the first to provide solid evidence for a specific association between changes in (MTL)/hippocampus and episodic memory in normal human aging. We conclude that hippocampus-specific brain maintenance relates to the specific preservation of episodic memory in old age, in line with the notion that brain maintenance operates at both general and domain-specific levels.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100027"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/9d/a4/main.PMC9999442.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9453771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A diet rich in docosahexaenoic acid enhances reactive astrogliosis and ramified microglia morphology in apolipoprotein E epsilon 4-targeted replacement mice","authors":"Hillary Chappus-McCendie , Marc-Antoine Poulin , Raphaël Chouinard-Watkins , Milène Vandal , Frédéric Calon , Marc-Antoine Lauzon , Mélanie Plourde","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100046","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100046","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) consumption reduces spatial memory impairment in mice carrying the human apolipoprotein E ε4 (<em>APOE4</em>) allele. The current study evaluated whether astrocyte and microglia morphology contribute to the mechanism of this result. <em>APOE3</em> and <em>APOE4</em> mice were fed either a DHA-enriched diet or a control diet from 4 to 12 months of age. Coronal brain sections were immunostained for GFAP, Iba1, and NeuN. Astrocytes from <em>APOE4</em> mice exhibited signs of reactive astrogliosis compared to <em>APOE3</em> mice. Consumption of DHA exacerbated reactive astrocyte morphology in <em>APOE4</em> carriers. Microglia from <em>APOE4</em>-control mice exhibited characteristics of amoeboid morphology and other characteristics of ramified morphology (more processes, greater process complexity, and greater distance between neighboring microglia). DHA enhanced ramified microglia morphology in <em>APOE4</em> mice. In addition, <em>APOE4</em> mice fed the DHA diet had lower hippocampal concentrations of interleukin-7, lipopolysaccharide-induced CXC chemokine and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, and higher concentration of interferon-gamma compared to <em>APOE4</em>-control mice. Our results indicate that a diet rich in DHA enhances reactive astrogliosis and ramified microglia morphology in <em>APOE4</em> mice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100046"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/1b/4b/main.PMC9997137.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9469569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aging brainPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100041
Saad Omais, Rouba N. Hilal, Nour N. Halaby, Carine Jaafar, Noël Ghanem
{"title":"Aging entails distinct requirements for Rb at maintaining adult neurogenesis","authors":"Saad Omais, Rouba N. Hilal, Nour N. Halaby, Carine Jaafar, Noël Ghanem","doi":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100041","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100041","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cell cycle proteins play essential roles in regulating embryonic and adult neurogenesis in the mammalian brain. A key example is the Retinoblastoma protein (Rb) whose loss disrupts the whole neurogenic program during brain development, but only results in increased progenitor proliferation in the adult subventricular zone (SVZ) and compromised long-term neuronal survival in the adult olfactory bulb (OB). Whether this holds true of neurogenesis in the aged brain remains unknown. In this study, we find no evidence of irregular proliferation or early commitment defects in the mid-aged (12-month-old) and old-aged (20-month-old) SVZ following tamoxifen-inducible Rb knockout (Rb iKO) in mice. However, we highlight a striking defect in early maturation of Rb-deficient migrating neuroblasts along the rostral migratory stream (RMS), followed by massive decline in neuronal generation inside the aged OB. In the absence of Rb, we also show evidence of incomplete cell cycle re-entry (CCE) along with DNA damage in the young OB, while we find a similar trend towards CCE but no clear signs of DNA damage or neurodegenerative signatures (pTau or Synuclein accumulation) in the aged OB. However, such phenotype could be masked by the severe maturation defect reported above in addition to the natural decline in adult neurogenesis with age. Overall, we show that Rb is required to prevent CCE and DNA damage in adult-born OB neurons, hence maintain neuronal survival. Moreover, while loss of Rb alone is insufficient to trigger seeding of neurotoxic species, this study reveals age-dependent non-monotonic dynamics in regulating neurogenesis by Rb.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72131,"journal":{"name":"Aging brain","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100041"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/de/7f/main.PMC9997174.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9102676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}