Investigating the effects of healthy cognitive aging on brain functional connectivity using 4.7 T resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Hrybouski, Stanislau; Cribben, Ivor; McGonigle, John; Olsen, Fraser; Carter, Rawle; Seres, Peter; Madan, Christopher R.; Malykhin, Nikolai V.

Abstract

Functional changes in the aging human brain have been previously reported using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Earlier resting-state fMRI studies revealed an age-associated weakening of intra-system functional connectivity (FC) and age-associated strengthening of inter-system FC. However, the majority of such FC studies did not investigate the relationship between age and network amplitude, without which correlation-based measures of FC can be challenging to interpret. Consequently, the main aim of this study was to investigate how three primary measures of resting-state fMRI signal—network amplitude, network topography, and inter-network FC—are affected by healthy cognitive aging. We acquired resting-state fMRI data on a 4.7 T scanner for 105 healthy participants representing the entire adult lifespan (18–85 years of age). To study age differences in network structure, we combined ICA-based network decomposition with sparse graphical models. Older adults displayed lower blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal amplitude in all functional systems, with sensorimotor networks showing the largest age differences. Our age comparisons of network topography and inter-network FC demonstrated a substantial amount of age invariance in the brain’s functional architecture. Despite architecture similarities, old adults displayed a loss of communication efficiency in our inter-network FC comparisons, driven primarily by the FC reduction in frontal and parietal association cortices. Together, our results provide a comprehensive overview of age effects on fMRI-based FC.

Citation

Hrybouski, S., Cribben, I., McGonigle, J., Olsen, F., Carter, R., Seres, P., …Malykhin, N. V. (2021). Investigating the effects of healthy cognitive aging on brain functional connectivity using 4.7 T resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Brain Structure and Function, 226(4), 1067-1098. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02226-7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 20, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 18, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: Feb 19, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 19, 2022
• Journal: Brain Structure and Function
• Print ISSN: 1863-2653
• Electronic ISSN: 1863-2661
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 226
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1067-1098
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02226-7
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5124596
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-021-02226-7
• Additional Information: This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Brain Structure and Function. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02226-7