Reduced Functional Connectivity in Normal Aging in Non-Human Primates

Alexandre Coimbra¹, Dai Feng², Marie Holahan¹, Jacquelynn Cook¹, Donald Williams¹, Richard Baumgartner²

In this work we explored the correlation between age and functional connectivity in lightly anesthetized Rhesus monkeys. Functional connectivity was expressed as goodness-of-fit (GOF) scores in the Posterior-cingulate cortex (PCC) a component region in the Default Mode Network. In humans, GOF in the DMN decreases with age. Overall, our results are in agreement with previously published results in humans; similarities exist between the characteristics of low frequency fluctuations of BOLD signal in awake humans and lightly anesthetized Rhesus monkeys suggesting the possible use of Rhesus macaques and GOF functional connectivity in translational investigations of age-related neurological disorders.