Using myelin water fraction (MWF), a proxy of myelin content, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices, we investigated the retrogenesis paradigm in a large cohort of cognitively unimpaired participants spanning a wide age range. Specifically, we assessed the last-in-first-out and gain-predicts-loss hypotheses, describing trends of tissue degeneration across cerebral regions and comparing maturation and degeneration rates within regions. Our MWF results support the last-in-first-out hypothesis, indicating that posterior regions are generally spared from degeneration compared to anterior regions, as well the gain-predicts-loss paradigm, suggesting that the regional maturation and degeneration rates were approximately symmetric.
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