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Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT: Aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are associated with progressive brain disorganization. Although structural asymmetry is an organizing feature of the cerebral cortex it is unknown whether continuous age- and AD-related cortical degradation alters cortical asymmetry. Here, in multiple longitudinal adult lifespan cohorts we show that higher-order cortical regions exhibiting pronounced asymmetry at age ~20 also show progressive asymmetry-loss across the adult lifespan. Hence, accelerated thinning of the (previously) thicker homotopic hemisphere is a feature of aging. This organizational principle showed high consistency across cohorts in the Lifebrain consortium, and both the topological patterns and temporal dynamics of asymmetry-loss were markedly similar across replicating samples. Asymmetry-change was further accelerated in AD. Results suggest a system-wide dedifferentiation of the adaptive asymmetric organization of heteromodal cortex in aging and AD.

SUBMITTER: Roe JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7851164 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer's disease.

Roe James M JM Vidal-Piñeiro Didac D Sørensen Øystein Ø Brandmaier Andreas M AM Düzel Sandra S Gonzalez Hector A HA Kievit Rogier A RA Knights Ethan E Kühn Simone S Lindenberger Ulman U Mowinckel Athanasia M AM Nyberg Lars L Park Denise C DC Pudas Sara S Rundle Melissa M MM Walhovd Kristine B KB Fjell Anders M AM Westerhausen René R

Nature communications 20210201 1

Aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are associated with progressive brain disorganization. Although structural asymmetry is an organizing feature of the cerebral cortex it is unknown whether continuous age- and AD-related cortical degradation alters cortical asymmetry. Here, in multiple longitudinal adult lifespan cohorts we show that higher-order cortical regions exhibiting pronounced asymmetry at age ~20 also show progressive asymmetry-loss across the adult lifespan. Hence, accelerated thinning ...[more]

PMID: 33526780

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Dataset Information

Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer's disease.

Publications

Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer's disease.

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