Aging and the human vestibular nucleus

Degenerative changes during aging have been identified in the inner ear and in the vestibular nerve, but not in the human vestibular nuclear complex (VNC). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to document quantitative morphometric changes within the VNC in humans as a function of age. The VNC of normal human subjects was examined for age-related changes using computer-based microscopy. Neuronal counts, nuclear volume, neuronal density, and nuclear length of the 4 vestibular nuclei were determined in 15 normal people, age 40 to 93 years. Based on a linear model, there was approximately a 3% neuronal loss per decade from age forty to ninety. VNC volume and neuronal density also decreased significantly with age, although to a lesser degree than did the number of neurons. Neuronal loss as a percentage of the total number of neurons was greatest in the superior vestibular nucleus and least in the medial vestibular nucleus. Despite the overall loss of neurons, the number of giant neurons (> 500 microns2) increased in older people. This increase in giant neurons could be traced to the accumulation of lipofuscin deposits in the cell somata. The overall rate of neuronal loss with aging in the VNC is comparable to that previously observed in hair cells, primary vestibular neurons, and cerebellar Purkinje cells, but is in contrast to prior reports of no age-related loss of neurons in other brain stem nuclei.