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., Madan, C. R., & 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