Vijay K Venkatraman1,2, Howard Jay Aizenstein1,3, Anne Barbara Newman2,4, Caterina Rosano2,4
1Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 2Center for Aging and Population Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 3Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 4Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Magnetization Transfer imaging have been recently used in geriatric neuroepidemiology to uncover the presence of microstructural brain abnormalities that would otherwise remain hidden with conventional MRI sequences and markers. However, the relationships between micro- and macro- structural abnormalities have not been examined in the oldest old. Understanding these relationships is useful to improve measurements of subtle brain changes with aging and to understand the mechanisms underlying responses to treatment and brain plasticity in older adults.