Abstract #0776

Aging Effect on Human Brain Transverse Relaxation Since Preadolescence

Jianli Wang¹, Megha Patel¹, Deborah Dossick¹, Michele L. Shaffer², Christopher W. Weitekamp¹, Xiaoyu Sun¹, Jeffrey Vesek¹, Paul J. Eslinger³, David J. Jill³, James R. Connor⁴, Qing X. Yang^1,4

¹Radiology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; ²Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; ³Neurology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; ⁴Neurosurgery, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

The goal of this study was to elucidate a quantitative developmental/aging characteristics and its variability on regional transverse relaxation rates (R₂) in normal human brain without a priori models. R₂ maps were acquired from seventy-seven 9 to 85 year-old healthy volunteers at 3 T. The result shows that the age dependence of R₂ varied with respect to brain anatomy. The relationships between R₂ and age determined by generalized additive models were nonlinear in most of the 25 brain structures studied.