Abstract
IntroductionDeep brain gray matter (GM) structures are involved in several neurodegenerative disorders and are affected by aging. In this study, we investigated the potential relationship between levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a putative biomarker of age- and clinically relevant brain dysfunctions, and the presence of structural modifications that were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging in six deep GM structures.MethodsVolume changes and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scalars were studied in the thalamus, putamen, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, amygdala and pallidum of a cohort of 120 healthy subjects. The cohort included young (18–39 years old), adult (40–59 years old) and elderly (60–76 years old) subjects.ResultsNo correlations were seen in the young and adult cohorts. In the elderly group, we observed reduced BDNF levels that correlated with increased DTI-based mean diffusivity occurring in the left hippocampus along with decreased normalized volume in the left amygdala.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that, in elderly subjects, BDNF may exert regional and lateralized effects that allow the integrity of two strategic deep GM areas such as the hippocampus and the amygdala.
Highlights
Deep brain gray matter (GM) structures are involved in several neurodegenerative disorders and are affected by aging
We investigated the potential relationship between levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a putative biomarker of age- and clinically relevant brain dysfunctions, and the presence of structural modifications that were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging in six deep GM structures
When we further explored the relationship occurring between the amygdala and the hippocampus macromicrostructural parameters by a two-by-two approach or between each of them and age, strong positive correlations appeared, only in the elderly subject group, between: (1) normalized volume (NV) of the left amygdala and age (r=0.543; P-value=0.012), (2) mean diffusivity (MD) and NV of the left amygdala (r=0.59; P-value=0.0208); and (3) MD of the left and right hippocampus (r=0.611; P-value= 0.0034)
Summary
Changes in deep gray matter (GM) structures, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, have often been associated with a variety of behavioral modifications. A recent study, performed on elderly subjects, measured volumes of deep GM regions along with BDNF serum levels and evaluated whether agerelated reductions in BDNF were associated with GM volume loss and memory deficits (Erickson et al 2010). This study is the first that attempts to overcome the limitations of previous investigations on effects of aging in subcortical GM structures To this aim, in a hypothesis-free fashion, we explored changes in volume, DTI scalars along with evaluation of serum BDNF levels in six deep GM structures (i.e., thalamus, putamen, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, amygdala, and pallidum) in a cohort of healthy subjects divided into three age brackets: young (18–39 years old), middle aged (40–59 years old), and elderly (60–76 years old) subjects. A written consent form was signed by all participants after they received a full explanation of the study procedures
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