Age-related white matter integrity differences in oldest-old without dementia
Open accessAbstract
Aging is known to have deleterious effects on cerebral white matter, yet little is known about these white matter alterations in advanced age. In this study, 94 oldest-old adults without dementia (90-103 years) underwent diffusion tensor imaging to assess relationships between chronological age and multiple measures of integrity in 18 white matter regions across the brain. Results revealed significant age-related declines in integrity in regions previously identified as being sensitive to aging in younger-old adults (corpus callosum, fornix, cingulum, external capsule). For the corpus callosum, the effect of age on genu fractional anisotropy was significantly weaker than the relationship between age and splenium fractional anisotropy. Importantly, age-related declines in white matter integrity did not differ in cognitively normal and cognitively impaired not demented oldest-old, suggesting that they were not solely driven by cognitive dysfunction or preclinical dementia in this advanced age group. Instead, white matter in these regions appears to remain vulnerable to normal aging processes through the 10th decade of life.
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White matter integrity undergoes a general decline with ageing, characterized by decreases in both myelin density and quality.
“The white matter integrity undergoes a general decline, characterized by decreases in both myelin density and quality.163”
From Antiageing strategy for neurodegenerative diseases: from mechanisms to clinical advances (2025) · cites this paper as [163]
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- Authors
- Bennett, I. J., Greenia, D. E., Maillard, P., Sajjadi, S. A., DeCarli, C., Corrada, M. M., & Kawas, C. H.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bennett, Ilana J.
- Venue
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-08
- Volume
- 56
- Pages
- 108-114
- ISSN
- 0197-4580 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5647141
- OpenAlex
- W2608563065
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6
- FWCI
- 3.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Neurobiology of Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (K99-R00, K99/R00 AG047334)
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Irvine
- National Institute on Aging (P30AG010129, R01AG021055, AG047334, P50AG016573, P30AG0101029, AG021055, R00AG047334, K99AG047334)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Cerebrovascular and genetic disorders
- Keywords
- white matter integrity, oldest old, normal aging, fractional anisotropy, corpus callosum, fornix, cingulum, external capsule, splenium, genu, preclinical dementia, cognitive impairment, diffusion tensor imaging
- MeSH terms
- Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cognition, Corpus Callosum, Female, Humans, Male, Fornix, Brain, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neuroimaging, White Matter
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