TY - JOUR
T1 - Superficial white matter as a novel substrate of age-related cognitive decline
AU - Nazeri, Arash
AU - Chakravarty, M. Mallar
AU - Rajji, Tarek K.
AU - Felsky, Daniel
AU - Rotenberg, David J.
AU - Mason, Mikko
AU - Xu, Li N.
AU - Lobaugh, Nancy J.
AU - Mulsant, Benoit H.
AU - Voineskos, Aristotle N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - Studies of diffusion tensor imaging have focused mainly on the role of deep white matter tract microstructural abnormalities associated with aging and age-related cognitive decline. However, the potential role of superficial white matter (SWM) in aging and, by extension, cognitive-aging, is less clear. Healthy individuals (n= 141; F/M: 66/75 years) across the adult lifespan (18-86years) underwent diffusion tensor imaging and a battery of cognitive testing. SWM was assessed via a combination of probabilistic tractography and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). A widespread inverse relationship of fractional anisotropy (FA) values in SWM with age was observed. SWM-FA adjacent to the precentral gyri was associated with fine-motor-speed, whereas performance in visuomotor-attention/processing speed correlated with SWM-FA in all 4 lobes of the left-hemisphere and in right parieto-occipital SWM-FA (family-wise error corrected p < 0.05). Independent of deep white matter-FA, right frontal and right occipital SWM-FA-mediated age effects on motor-speed and visuomotor-attention/processing speed, respectively. Altogether, our results indicate that SWM-FA contributes uniquely to age-related cognitive performance, and should be considered as a novel biomarker of cognitive-aging.
AB - Studies of diffusion tensor imaging have focused mainly on the role of deep white matter tract microstructural abnormalities associated with aging and age-related cognitive decline. However, the potential role of superficial white matter (SWM) in aging and, by extension, cognitive-aging, is less clear. Healthy individuals (n= 141; F/M: 66/75 years) across the adult lifespan (18-86years) underwent diffusion tensor imaging and a battery of cognitive testing. SWM was assessed via a combination of probabilistic tractography and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). A widespread inverse relationship of fractional anisotropy (FA) values in SWM with age was observed. SWM-FA adjacent to the precentral gyri was associated with fine-motor-speed, whereas performance in visuomotor-attention/processing speed correlated with SWM-FA in all 4 lobes of the left-hemisphere and in right parieto-occipital SWM-FA (family-wise error corrected p < 0.05). Independent of deep white matter-FA, right frontal and right occipital SWM-FA-mediated age effects on motor-speed and visuomotor-attention/processing speed, respectively. Altogether, our results indicate that SWM-FA contributes uniquely to age-related cognitive performance, and should be considered as a novel biomarker of cognitive-aging.
KW - Cognitive-aging
KW - Diffusion tensor imaging
KW - Superficial white matter
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84929288020
U2 - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.02.022
DO - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.02.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 25834938
AN - SCOPUS:84929288020
SN - 0197-4580
VL - 36
SP - 2094
EP - 2106
JO - Neurobiology of Aging
JF - Neurobiology of Aging
IS - 6
ER -