The relationship between cerebral glucose metabolism and age: report of a large brain PET data set

Cerebral glucose metabolism is a reliable index of neural activity and may provide evidence for brain function in healthy adults. We studied the correlation between cerebral glucose metabolism and age under the resting-state in both sexes with position emission tomography. Statistical test of age effect on cerebral glucose metabolism was performed using the statistical parametric mapping software with a voxel-by-voxel approach (p=0.05 family wise error corrected, 100-voxel threshold). The subjects consisted of 108 females (mean ± S.D. = 45 ± 10 years) and 126 males (mean ± S.D. = 49 ± 11 years). We showed here that brain activity in the frontal and temporal lobes in both sexes decreased significantly with normal aging. The glucose metabolism in the caudate bilaterally showed a negative correlation with age in males, but not in females. Few regions in males were shown with an increased glucose metabolism with age. Although the mechanisms of brain aging are still unknown, a map of brain areas susceptible to age was described in this report.