Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on October 5, 2005
Cerebral Cortex 2006 16(7):1030-1039; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj045
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Selective Age-related Degradation of Anterior Callosal Fiber Bundles Quantified In Vivo with Fiber Tracking
1 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, 2 Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, 3 Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA and 4 Neuroscience Program, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
Address correspondence to Edith V. Sullivan, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Email: edie{at}stanford.edu.
The corpus callosum, the principal white matter structure enabling interhemispheric information transfer, is heterogeneous in its microstructural composition, heterotopic in its anteroposterior cortical connectivity, and differentially susceptible to aging. In vivo characterization of callosal features is possible with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a magnetic resonance imaging method sensitive to the detection of white matter's linear structure. We implemented a quantitative fiber tracking approach to examine age-related variation in regional microstructural characteristics [fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)] of callosal fibers in 10 younger (29 ± 5 years) and 10 older (72 ± 5 years) healthy adults. Fiber tracking was performed on 2.5 mm isotropic voxels collected at 3 T. Fiber targets comprised the midsagittal corpus callosum, divided into six regions based on known callosal anatomical projections. FA and ADC for each voxel of each fiber identified were determined; lower FA and higher ADC reflect degraded microstructural tissue integrity. Older subjects had lower FA (P < 0.002), higher ADC (P < 0.006), and fewer (P < 0.005) fibers than younger subjects. Group x region interactions indicated disproportionately lower FA (P = 0.0001) and higher ADC (P < 0.006) in the older than younger group in frontal fiber bundles relative to posterior bundles. As a test of the functional significance of the fiber bundle metrics, the older subjects were administered the Stroop Task, which showed significant correlations between regional fiber bundle integrity and performance. These results validate this quantitative fiber tracking approach and confirm the selective vulnerability of frontal white matter systems to normal aging, likely substrates of age-related declines in cognitive processes dependent on prefrontal circuitry integrity.
Key Words: aging • apparent diffusion coefficient • corpus callosum • fractional anisotropy • white matter
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  D. E. Stark, D. S. Margulies, Z. E. Shehzad, P. Reiss, A. M. C. Kelly, L. Q. Uddin, D. G. Gee, A. K. Roy, M. T. Banich, F. X. Castellanos, et al. Regional Variation in Interhemispheric Coordination of Intrinsic Hemodynamic Fluctuations J. Neurosci., December 17, 2008; 28(51): 13754 - 13764. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. Mukherjee, J.I. Berman, S.W. Chung, C.P. Hess, and R.G. Henry Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging and Fiber Tractography: Theoretic Underpinnings AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., April 1, 2008; 29(4): 632 - 641. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Stadlbauer, E. Salomonowitz, G. Strunk, T. Hammen, and O. Ganslandt Age-related Degradation in the Central Nervous System: Assessment with Diffusion-Tensor Imaging and Quantitative Fiber Tracking Radiology, April 1, 2008; 247(1): 179 - 188. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. E. Hugenschmidt, A. M. Peiffer, R. A. Kraft, R. Casanova, A. R. Deibler, J. H. Burdette, J. A. Maldjian, and P. J. Laurienti Relating Imaging Indices of White Matter Integrity and Volume in Healthy Older Adults Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2008; 18(2): 433 - 442. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E V SULLIVAN and A PFEFFERBAUM Neuroradiological characterization of normal adult ageing Br. J. Radiol., December 1, 2007; 80(Special_Issue_2): S99 - S108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Ashtari, J. Cottone, B. A. Ardekani, K. Cervellione, P. R. Szeszko, J. Wu, S. Chen, and S. Kumra Disruption of White Matter Integrity in the Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus in Adolescents With Schizophrenia as Revealed by Fiber Tractography Arch Gen Psychiatry, November 1, 2007; 64(11): 1270 - 1280. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. D. Taylor, J. N. Bae, J. R. MacFall, M. E. Payne, J. M. Provenzale, D. C. Steffens, and K. R. R. Krishnan Widespread Effects of Hyperintense Lesions on Cerebral White Matter Structure Am. J. Roentgenol., June 1, 2007; 188(6): 1695 - 1704. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. Minati, M. Grisoli, and M. G. Bruzzone MR Spectroscopy, Functional MRI, and Diffusion-Tensor Imaging in the Aging Brain: A Conceptual Review J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, March 1, 2007; 20(1): 3 - 21. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Pfefferbaum, M. J. Rosenbloom, E. Adalsteinsson, and E. V. Sullivan Diffusion tensor imaging with quantitative fibre tracking in HIV infection and alcoholism comorbidity: synergistic white matter damage Brain, January 1, 2007; 130(1): 48 - 64. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|