Aging Influence on Gray Matter Structural Associations within the Default Mode Network Utilizing Bayesian Network...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Brain Aging Research
• Network Science

Background:

• Neuroimaging reveals aging-related changes in brain networks, including the default mode network (DMN).
• Understanding specific structural dependencies within the DMN during normal aging remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize aging's influence on structural associations between core DMN regions using Bayesian network (BN) modeling.
• To investigate the discriminability of BN models representing young and old adults.

Main Methods:

• Analyzed gray matter volume data from 109 young and 82 older subjects.
• Employed Bayesian network (BN) modeling to map structural connections within the DMN.
• Utilized classification analysis to assess model discriminability between age groups.

Main Results:

• Older adults showed reduced connections (e.g., right inferior temporal cortex to medial prefrontal cortex) and increased connections (e.g., left hippocampus to medial prefrontal cortex) within the DMN.
• Aging-related BN models accurately predicted group membership (88.48% accuracy).

Conclusions:

• Structural associations within the DMN are demonstrably affected by normal aging.
• These findings provide critical insights into how aging impacts brain structural networks.