(186) Age and Pain-Related Contributions to Biochemical Brain Alterations Community-Dwelling Individuals

Abstract

Altered brain neurochemistry has been previously reported in older individuals as well as in persons with chronic pain. Since chronic pain is commonly present in older individuals, is not currently known whether previously reported neurochemical and metabolic alterations are directly related to an aged central nervous system rather than the experience of chronic pain. The present study was aimed to determine age and pain-specific differences in brain metabolites and their associations with clinical and experimental pain. Younger (18-26 years old, n=20) and cognitively intact older adults (mean age=71.7±7.8, 63% female) with (n=25) and without chronic pain (n=13) participated in the Neuromodulatory Examination of Pain Across the Lifespan (NEPAL) Study at the University of Florida. Proton MRS (1H-MRS) was acquired from a frontal brain voxel using a Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) approach. LCModel was used to quantify N–acetyl aspartate (NAA-neuronal density, integrity), Myo-Inositol (Ins-glial activation, neuroinflammation), choline (tCho-cell membrane turnover), creatine (tCr- energy metabolism) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) voxel composition. Older individuals had significantly lower [NAA] compared to younger controls (p=0.0003). Conversely, older individuals had significantly greater [Ins], [tCr] and [tCho] compared to younger controls (p's