Brain Imaging In Human Aging and Alzheimers Disease

Rapoport, Stanley I.

Abstract

(1): A critical review indicated that magnetic resonance imaging can be used to identify and quantify changes in brain volume in relation to human aging and dementia. (2): Analysis of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging data demonstrated differences in the extent of atrophy of the hippocampus-amygdala formation and of the corpus callosum atrophy in patients with Alzheimer disease as a function of dementia severity. The analysis method provides a statistical framework to identify atrophy patterns of different brain structures in human neurodegenerative diseases. (3): In vivo imaging methods (positron emission tomography (PET), structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging), allow us to examine human brain function and structure in relation to healthy aging, and to diagnose and understand the different causes of dementia, including Alzheimer disease. Functional or pharmacological activation ('stress' tests) with in vivo imaging are particularly useful in this regard. (4): A theory for how Darwinian competition among kinships rather than only among individuals was proposed to explain how cognitive ability, brain size and life span co-evolved during primate evolution.

Funding Agency

• Agency: National Institute of Health (NIH)
• Institute: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Type: Intramural Research (Z01)
• Project #: 1Z01AG000148-03
• Application #: 6814926
• Study Section: (BPMS)
• Support Year: 3
• Fiscal Year: 2003

Institution

• Name: Aging
• Country: United States

Publications

Pichika, Rama; Taha, Ameer Y; Gao, Fei et al. (2012) The synthesis and in vivo pharmacokinetics of fluorinated arachidonic acid: implications for imaging neuroinflammation. J Nucl Med 53:1383-91

Igarashi, Miki; Ma, Kaizong; Gao, Fei et al. (2011) Disturbed choline plasmalogen and phospholipid fatty acid concentrations in Alzheimer's disease prefrontal cortex. J Alzheimers Dis 24:507-17

Cunnane, Stephen; Nugent, Scott; Roy, Maggie et al. (2011) Brain fuel metabolism, aging, and Alzheimer's disease. Nutrition 27:3-20

Rapoport, Stanley I; Ramadan, Epolia; Basselin, Mireille (2011) Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) incorporation into the brain from plasma, as an in vivo biomarker of brain DHA metabolism and neurotransmission. Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat 96:109-13

Umhau, John C; Zhou, Weiyin; Carson, Richard E et al. (2009) Imaging incorporation of circulating docosahexaenoic acid into the human brain using positron emission tomography. J Lipid Res 50:1259-68

Esposito, Giuseppe; Giovacchini, Giampiero; Der, Margaret et al. (2007) Imaging signal transduction via arachidonic acid in the human brain during visual stimulation, by means of positron emission tomography. Neuroimage 34:1342-51

Alexander, Gene E; Chen, Kewei; Merkley, Tricia L et al. (2006) Regional network of magnetic resonance imaging gray matter volume in healthy aging. Neuroreport 17:951-6

Rapoport, Stanley I (2005) [In vivo imaging for evaluating synaptic integrity in Alzheimer disease] Psychol Neuropsychiatr Vieil 3:97-106

Rapoport, Stanley I (2005) In vivo approaches and rationale for quantifying kinetics and imaging brain lipid metabolic pathways. Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat 77:185-96

Ibanez, Vicente; Pietrini, Pietro; Furey, Maura L et al. (2004) Resting state brain glucose metabolism is not reduced in normotensive healthy men during aging, after correction for brain atrophy. Brain Res Bull 63:147-54