Kristen Michelle Kennedy1, Karen Michelle Rodrigue1, Susan Land2, Naftali Raz3
1Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA; 2Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA; 3Institute of Gerontology and Dept of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
Mechanisms of differential brain aging are poorly understood, but may be under genetic control. Genetic predisposition to reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophin factor and increased cytokine proinflammation may exacerbate the pattern and trajectory of normal aging. We used DTI and genotyping to explore the association between genu and splenium corpus callosum white matter integrity and BDNFval66met and IL-1Beta A/G polymorphisms. Anterior callosum integrity declined with normal aging, but posterior decline was associated selectively with genetic risk in BDNF66met+ and IL-1Beta G+ genotypes. These genotypes were also associated with accelerated age-related declines, whereas the non-risk genotypes evidenced linear declines.