Abstract
Multispectral automated segmentation of MR images of the brains of 10 young (5-8 years), 10 middle-aged (12-17 years), and 11 old (21-27 years) female rhesus monkeys revealed age-associated changes in brain volume and composition. Total brain parenchymal volume (expressed as fraction of intracranial volume-%ICV) decreased at a linear rate of 0.3 ± 0.04% ICV/year. Up to age ~ 15 years, this loss was almost entirely due to gray matter loss, with a compensatory increase in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and possibly some white matter. Brain tissue composition, expressed as the gray matter/white matter volume ratio confirmed that gray matter loss exceeded white matter loss, but the rate of decline in the gray/white ratio began to slow after ~ 15 years. Comparison of these age-associated changes in rhesus brain with those in humans suggest that the brain aging in rhesus is a good model of human brain aging, but occurs ~ 3-fold faster.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 90-98 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Brain Research |
Volume | 829 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 22 1999 |
Keywords
- Brain aging
- Primate
- Tissue segmentation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience (all)
- Molecular Biology
- Clinical Neurology
- Developmental Biology