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Parimoo S, Grady C, Olsen R. Age-related Differences in Response Inhibition Are Mediated by Frontoparietal White Matter but Not Functional Activity. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1184-1205. [PMID: 38579242 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Healthy older adults often exhibit lower performance but increased functional recruitment of the frontoparietal control network during cognitive control tasks. According to the cortical disconnection hypothesis, age-related changes in the microstructural integrity of white matter may disrupt inter-regional neuronal communication, which in turn can impair behavioral performance. Here, we use fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging to determine whether age-related differences in white matter microstructure contribute to frontoparietal over-recruitment and behavioral performance during a response inhibition (go/no-go) task in an adult life span sample (n = 145). Older and female participants were slower (go RTs) than younger and male participants, respectively. However, participants across all ages were equally accurate on the no-go trials, suggesting some participants may slow down on go trials to achieve high accuracy on no-go trials. Across the life span, functional recruitment of the frontoparietal network within the left and right hemispheres did not vary as a function of age, nor was it related to white matter fractional anisotropy (FA). In fact, only frontal FA and go RTs jointly mediated the association between age and no-go accuracy. Our results therefore suggest that frontal white matter cortical "disconnection" is an underlying driver of age-related differences in cognitive control, and white matter FA may not fully explain functional task-related activation in the frontoparietal network during the go/no-go task. Our findings add to the literature by demonstrating that white matter may be more important for certain cognitive processes in aging than task-related functional activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shireen Parimoo
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
| | - Cheryl Grady
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
| | - Rosanna Olsen
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
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2
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Callow DD, Spira AP, Zipunnikov V, Lu H, Wanigatunga SK, Rabinowitz JA, Albert M, Bakker A, Soldan A. Sleep and physical activity measures are associated with resting-state network segregation in non-demented older adults. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 43:103621. [PMID: 38823249 PMCID: PMC11179421 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Revised: 05/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
Greater physical activity and better sleep are associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia among older adults, but little is known about their combined associations with measures of brain function and neuropathology. This study investigated potential independent and interactive cross-sectional relationships between actigraphy-estimated total volume of physical activity (TVPA) and sleep patterns [i.e., total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE)] with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) measures of large scale network connectivity and positron emission tomography (PET) measures of amyloid-β. Participants were 135 non-demented older adults from the BIOCARD study (116 cognitively normal and 19 with mild cognitive impairment; mean age = 70.0 years). Using multiple linear regression analyses, we assessed the association between TVPA, TST, and SE with connectivity within the default-mode, salience, and fronto-parietal control networks, and with network modularity, a measure of network segregation. Higher TVPA and SE were independently associated with greater network modularity, although the positive relationship of SE with modularity was only present in amyloid-negative individuals. Additionally, higher TVPA was associated with greater connectivity within the default-mode network, while greater SE was related to greater connectivity within the salience network. In contrast, longer TST was associated with lower network modularity, particularly among amyloid-positive individuals, suggesting a relationship between longer sleep duration and greater network disorganization. Physical activity and sleep measures were not associated with amyloid positivity. These data suggest that greater physical activity levels and more efficient sleep may promote more segregated and potentially resilient functional networks and increase functional connectivity within specific large-scale networks and that the relationship between sleep and functional networks connectivity may depend on amyloid status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel D Callow
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
| | - Adam P Spira
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America; Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Vadim Zipunnikov
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Hanzhang Lu
- Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Sarah K Wanigatunga
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Jill A Rabinowitz
- Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ US
| | - Marilyn Albert
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Arnold Bakker
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
| | - Anja Soldan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, the United States of America
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Patel A, Chad JA, Chen JJ. Is adiposity associated with white matter microstructural health and intelligence differently in males and females? Obesity (Silver Spring) 2023; 31:1011-1023. [PMID: 36883598 DOI: 10.1002/oby.23686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 03/09/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The role of vascular risk factors in age-related brain degeneration has long been the subject of intense study, but the role of obesity remains understudied. Given known sex differences in fat storage and usage, this study investigates sex differences in the association between adiposity and white matter microstructural integrity, an important early marker of brain degeneration. METHODS This study assesses the associations between adiposity (abdominal fat ratio and liver proton density fat fraction) and brain health (measures of intelligence and white matter microstructure using diffusion-tensor imaging [DTI]) in a group of UK Biobank participants. RESULTS This study finds that intelligence and DTI metrics are indeed associated with adiposity differently in males and females. These sex differences are distinct from those in the associations of DTI metrics with age and blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these findings suggest that there are inherent sex-driven differences in how brain health is associated with obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Patel
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jordan A Chad
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - J Jean Chen
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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McDonough IM, Nolin SA, Visscher KM. 25 years of neurocognitive aging theories: What have we learned? Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:1002096. [PMID: 36212035 PMCID: PMC9539801 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.1002096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The past 25 years have provided a rich discovery of at least four fundamental patterns that represent structural and functional brain aging across multiple cognitive domains. Of the many potential patterns of brain aging, few are ever examined simultaneously in a given study, leading one to question their mutual exclusivity. Moreover, more studies are emerging that note failures to replicate some brain aging patterns, thereby questioning the universality and prevalence of these patterns. Although some attempts have been made to create unifying theories incorporating many of these age-related brain patterns, we propose that the field’s understanding of the aging brain has been hindered due to a large number of influential models with little crosstalk between them. We briefly review these brain patterns, the influential domain-general theories of neurocognitive aging that attempt to explain them, and provide examples of recent challenges to these theories. Lastly, we elaborate on improvements that can be made to lead the field to more comprehensive and robust models of neurocognitive aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian M. McDonough
- Department of Psychology, Alabama Research Institute on Aging, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
- *Correspondence: Ian M. McDonough,
| | - Sara A. Nolin
- Department of Neurobiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Kristina M. Visscher
- Department of Neurobiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
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Individual differences in white matter microstructure of the face processing brain network are more differentiated from global fibers with increasing ability. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14075. [PMID: 35982145 PMCID: PMC9388653 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17850-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Face processing—a crucial social ability—is known to be carried out in multiple dedicated brain regions which form a distinguishable network. Previous studies on face processing mainly targeted the functionality of face-selective grey matter regions. Thus, it is still partly unknown how white matter structures within the face network underpins abilities in this domain. Furthermore, how relevant abilities modulate the relationship between face-selective and global fibers remains to be discovered. Here, we aimed to fill these gaps by exploring linear and non-linear associations between microstructural properties of brain fibers (namely fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial and radial diffusivity) and face processing ability. Using structural equation modeling, we found significant linear associations between specific properties of fibers in the face network and face processing ability in a young adult sample (N = 1025) of the Human Connectome Project. Furthermore, individual differences in the microstructural properties of the face processing brain system tended toward stronger differentiation from global brain fibers with increasing ability. This is especially the case in the low or high ability range. Overall, our study provides novel evidence for ability-dependent specialization of brain structure in the face network, which promotes a comprehensive understanding of face selectivity.
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Shirazi Y, Oghabian MA, Batouli SAH. Along-tract analysis of the white matter is more informative about brain ageing, compared to whole-tract analysis. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2021; 211:107048. [PMID: 34826755 DOI: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2021.107048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2021] [Revised: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 11/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) enabled the investigation of brain White Matter (WM), both qualitatively to study the macrostructure, and quantitatively to study the microstructure. The quantitative analyses are mostly performed at the whole-tract level, i.e., providing one measure of interest per tract; however, along-tract approaches may provide finer details of the quality of the WM tracts. In this study, using the DWI data collected from 40 young and 40 old individuals, we compared the DTI measures of FA, MD, AD, and RD, estimated by both whole-tract and along-tract approaches in 18 WM bundles, between the two groups. The results of the whole-tract quantitative analysis showed a statistically significant (p-FWER < 0.05) difference between the old and young groups in 6 tracts for FA, 8 tracts for MD, 1 tract for AD, and 7 tracts for RD. On the contrary, the along-tract approach showed differences between the two groups in 10 tracts for FA, 14 tracts for MD, 8 tracts for AD, and 11 tracts for RD. All the differences between the along-tract measures of the two groups had a large effect size (Cohen'd > 0.80). This study showed that the along-tract approach for the analysis of brain WM reveals changes in some WM tracts which had not shown any changes in the whole-tract approach, and therefore this finding emphasizes the utilization of the along-tract approach along with the whole-tract method for a more accurate study of the brain WM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasin Shirazi
- Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Ali Oghabian
- Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli
- Neuroimaging and Analysis Group, Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Neuroscience and addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Bontempi P, Podda R, Daducci A, Sonato N, Fattoretti P, Fiorini S, Tambalo S, Mosconi E, Merigo F, Balietti M, Marzola P. MRI characterization of rat brain aging at structural and functional level: Clues for translational applications. Exp Gerontol 2021; 152:111432. [DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2021.111432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Bourbon-Teles J, Jorge L, Canário N, Castelo-Branco M. Structural impairments in hippocampal and occipitotemporal networks specifically contribute to decline in place and face category processing but not to other visual object categories in healthy aging. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e02127. [PMID: 34184829 PMCID: PMC8413757 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 02/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Functional neuroimaging studies have identified a set of nodes in the occipital-temporal cortex that preferentially respond to faces in comparison with other visual objects. By contrast, the processing of places seems to rely on parahippocampal cortex and structures heavily implicated in memory (e.g., the hippocampus). It has been suggested that human aging leads to decreased neural specialization of core face and place processing areas and impairments in face and place perception. METHODS Using mediation analysis, we tested the potential contribution of micro- and macrostructure within the hippocampal and occipitotemporal systems to age-associated effects in face and place category processing (as measured by 1-back working memory tasks) in 55 healthy adults (age range 23-79 years). To test for specific contributions of the studied structures to face/place processing, we also studied a distinct tract (i.e., the anterior thalamic radiation [ATR]) and cognitive performance for other visual object categories (objects, bodies, and verbal material). Constrained spherical deconvolution-based tractography was used to reconstruct the fornix, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), and the ATR. Hippocampal volumetric measures were segmented from FSL-FIRST toolbox. RESULTS It was found that age associates with (a) decreases in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the fornix, in right ILF (but not left ILF), and in the ATR (b) reduced volume in the right and left hippocampus and (c) decline in visual object category processing. Importantly, mediation analysis showed that micro- and macrostructural impairments in the fornix and right hippocampus, respectively, associated with age-dependent decline in place processing. Alternatively, microstructural impairments in right hemispheric ILF associated with age-dependent decline in face processing. There were no other mediator effects of micro- and macrostructural variables on age-cognition relationships. CONCLUSION Together, the findings support specific contributions of the fornix and right hippocampus in visuospatial scene processing and of the long-range right hemispheric occipitotemporal network in face category processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Bourbon-Teles
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Lília Jorge
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Nádia Canário
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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