Abstract #0698
Investigating white matter degeneration in healthy aging by combining diffusion-tensor imaging and diffusion-weighted spectroscopy in the human corpus callosum at 7 T
Francesca Branzoli 1 , Ece Ercan 2 , Emily T. Wood 3 , Mathijs Buijs 2 , Andrew Webb 2 , and Itamar Ronen 2
1
Centre de Neuro-imagerie de Recherche de
lInstitut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere, Paris,
France,
2
C.
J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of
Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden,
Netherlands,
3
Neuroimmunology
Branch (NINDS), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
MD, United States
In this study we compare the diffusion properties of
water and the neuronal metabolite N-acetylaspartate (NAA)
in the corpus callosum of elderly and young subjects,
measured at 7T by combining diffusion tensor imaging and
diffusion-weighted spectroscopy. Thanks to the
specificity of NAA as a probe of intra-axonal space, the
method employed here allows to distinguish axonopathy
from other processes such as demyelination, which has
been previously associated to the observed increase in
water mean diffusivity and decrease in water fractional
anisotropy in aging. The decrease in NAA axial
diffusivity observed in aging for the first time in this
study is likely to be related to the presence of
structural disruptions associated with axonal
degeneration in WM of elderly subjects.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only;
a login is required.
Join Here
