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Abstract
Objective: To investigate the relationship between older age and mean cerebral white matter fiber bundle lengths (FBLs) in specific white matter tracts in the brain using quantified diffusion MRI.
Methods: Sixty-three healthy adults older than 50 years underwent diffusion tensor imaging. Tractography tracings of cerebral white matter fiber bundles were derived from the diffusion tensor imaging data.
Results: Results revealed significantly shorter FBLs in the anterior thalamic radiation for every 1-year increase over the age of 50 years.
Conclusions: We investigated the effects of age on FBL in specific white matter tracts in the brains of healthy older individuals utilizing quantified diffusion MRI. The results revealed a significant inverse relationship between age and FBL. Longitudinal studies of FBL across a lifespan are needed to examine the specific changes to the integrity of white matter.
GLOSSARY
- DTI=
- diffusion tensor imaging;
- DWI=
- diffusion-weighted imaging;
- FA=
- fractional anisotropy;
- FBL=
- fiber bundle length;
- FLIRT=
- FMRIB's Linear Image Registration Tool;
- FSL=
- FMRIB's Software Library;
- JHU=
- Johns Hopkins University;
- qtDTI=
- quantitative tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging;
- ROI=
- region of interest;
- SNR=
- signal-to-noise ratio
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Supplemental data at Neurology.org
- Received November 15, 2013.
- Accepted in final form April 14, 2014.
- © 2014 American Academy of Neurology
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