On the Relationship between Cellular and Hemodynamic Properties of the Human Brain Cortex over Adult Lifespan
Yue Zhao1, Jie Wen2, Anne Cross3, and Dmitriy Yablonskiy2
1Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 2Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 3Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
Establishing
baseline MRI biomarkers for normal brain aging is significant and valuable. In
this study, we use previously
developed approach to measure tissue-specific transverse relaxation rate
constant (R2*t) and
BOLD contributions to GRE signal, thus providing information on tissue cellular
and hemodynamic properties. The VSF approach is applied for background gradient
correction together with navigator echo to minimize artifacts from
physiological fluctuations. Our results show age-related R2*t increases in most
cortical regions and age-independent behavior of most hemodynamic parameters. We
hypothesize that R2*t could serve as a biomarker of the cortical “cellular
packing density”, which mostly reflects the neuronal density.
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