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High-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals metabolic effects of normal brain aging.

ABSTRACT: Altered brain metabolism is likely to be an important contributor to normal cognitive decline and brain pathology in elderly individuals. To characterize the metabolic changes associated with normal brain aging, we used high-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vivo to quantify 20 neurochemicals in the hippocampus and sensorimotor cortex of young adult and aged rats. We found significant differences in the neurochemical profile of the aged brain when compared with younger adults, including lower aspartate, ascorbate, glutamate, and macromolecules, and higher glucose, myo-inositol, N-acetylaspartylglutamate, total choline, and glutamine. These neurochemical biomarkers point to specific cellular mechanisms that are altered in brain aging, such as bioenergetics, oxidative stress, inflammation, cell membrane turnover, and endogenous neuroprotection. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy may be a valuable translational approach for studying mechanisms of brain aging and pathology, and for investigating treatments to preserve or enhance cognitive function in aging.

SUBMITTER: Harris JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4174428 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals metabolic effects of normal brain aging.

Harris Janna L JL Yeh Hung-Wen HW Swerdlow Russell H RH Choi In-Young IY Lee Phil P Brooks William M WM

Neurobiology of aging 20140123 7

Altered brain metabolism is likely to be an important contributor to normal cognitive decline and brain pathology in elderly individuals. To characterize the metabolic changes associated with normal brain aging, we used high-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vivo to quantify 20 neurochemicals in the hippocampus and sensorimotor cortex of young adult and aged rats. We found significant differences in the neurochemical profile of the aged brain when compared with younger adults, incl ...[more]

PMID: 24559659

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Project description:Background:Amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) imaging has been revealed to hold great potential in the diagnosis of several brain diseases. The purpose of this proof-of-concept study was to evaluate the feasibility and value of APTw magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in characterizing normal brain aging. Methods:A total of 106 healthy subjects were recruited and scanned at 3.0 Tesla, with APTw and conventional magnetization transfer (MT) sequences. Quantitative image analyses were performed in 12 regions of interest (ROIs) for each subject. The APTw or MT ratio (MTR) signal differences among five age groups (young, mature, middle-aged, young-old, and middle-old) were assessed using the one-way analysis of variance, with the Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons. The relationship between APTw and MTR signals and the age dependencies of APTw and MTR signals were assessed using the Pearson correlation and non-linear regression. Results:There were no significant differences between the APTw or MTR values for males and females in any of the 12 ROIs analyzed. Among the five age groups, there were significant differences in the three white matter regions in the temporal, occipital, and frontal lobes. Overall, the mean APTw values in the older group were higher than those in the younger group. Positive correlations were observed in relation to age in most brain regions, including four with significant positive correlations (r=0.2065-0.4182) and five with increasing trends. As a comparison, the mean MTR values did not appear to be significantly different among the five age groups. In addition, the mean APTw and MTR values revealed significant positive correlations in 10 ROIs (r=0.2214-0.7269) and a significant negative correlation in one ROI (entorhinal cortex, r=-0.2141). Conclusions:Our early results show that the APTw signal can be used as a promising and complementary imaging biomarker with which normal brain aging can be evaluated at the molecular level.

Dataset Information

High-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals metabolic effects of normal brain aging.

Publications

High-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals metabolic effects of normal brain aging.

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