The Age-Related Perfusion Pattern Measured With Arterial Spin Labeling MRI in Healthy Subjects

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Radiology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes with age, impacting brain health.
• Arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI is a non-invasive technique to measure CBF.
• Understanding age-related CBF patterns is crucial for identifying neurological changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age-related changes in CBF using ASL MRI.
• To identify a specific age-related CBF pattern in healthy subjects.
• To apply multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) for pattern identification.

Main Methods:

• 50 healthy subjects underwent 3D structural and pseudo-continuous ASL MRI.
• Voxel-based univariate analysis (multiple regression, t-test) examined CBF-age relationships.
• Multivariate PCA identified an age-related CBF pattern.

Main Results:

• Negative correlation between age and CBF, particularly in anterior regions and cerebellum.
• Age-related CBF pattern showed reduced flow in frontal, parietal areas, and cerebellum.
• Covarying increases in temporal and occipital CBF were observed with aging.
• The identified pattern scores correlated negatively with age (R² = 0.588, P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Multivariate PCA effectively identifies a distinct age-related CBF pattern using ASL MRI.
• This pattern highlights regional CBF alterations associated with normal aging.
• Findings contribute to understanding brain aging through non-invasive neuroimaging.