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01-05-2021 | Magnetic Resonance Imaging | Original Article

Age-related assessment of diffusion parameters in specific brain tracts correlated with cortical thinning

Authors: Maíra Siqueira Pinto, Antonio Carlos dos Santos, Carlos Ernesto Garrido Salmon

Published in: Neurological Sciences | Issue 5/2021

Abstract

The aging process is associated with many brain structural alterations. These changes are not associated with neuronal loss but can be due to cortical structural changes that may be related to white matter (WM) structural alterations. In this study, we evaluated age-related changes in WM and gray matter (GM) parameters and how they correlate for specific brain tracts in a cohort of 158 healthy individuals, aged between 18 and 83 years old. In the tract-cortical analysis, cortical regions connected by tracts demonstrated similar thinning patterns for the majority of tracts. Additionally, a significant relationship was found between mean cortical thinning rate with fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) alteration rates. For all tracts, age was the main effect controlling diffusion parameter alterations. We found no direct correlations between cortical thickness and FA or MD, except for in the fornix, for which the subcallosal gyrus thickness was significantly correlated to FA and MD (p < 0.05 FDR corrected). Our findings lead to the conclusion that alterations in the WM diffusion parameters are explained by the aging process, also associated with cortical thickness changes. Also, the alteration rates of the structural parameters are correlated to the different brain tracts in the aging process.

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Title: Age-related assessment of diffusion parameters in specific brain tracts correlated with cortical thinning
Authors: Maíra Siqueira Pinto
Antonio Carlos dos Santos
Carlos Ernesto Garrido Salmon
Publication date: 01-05-2021
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published in: Neurological Sciences / Issue 5/2021
Print ISSN: 1590-1874
Electronic ISSN: 1590-3478
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04688-9

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Age-related assessment of diffusion parameters in specific brain tracts correlated with cortical thinning

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