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Abstract #3017

Aging of the Central Nervous System: A Voxel-Based Quantification (VBQ) Study of 100 Volunteers

Martina F. Callaghan1, Patrick Freund1, 2, Bogdan Draganski3, Marinella Cappelletti1, Thomas Fitzgerald1, Peter Smittenaar1, Antoine Lutti1, Nikolaus Weiskopf1

1Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; 2Spinal Cord Injury Center Balgrist, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 3LREN, Department des Neurosciences Cliniques, CHUV, Universite de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Quantitative MR parameters reflect changes occurring in tissue on a microstructural level. We acquired quantitative maps of longitudinal relaxation rate (R1), transverse relaxation rate (R2*) and magnetisation transfer (MT) from a population of 100 healthy volunteers with an age range of 18-74 years. Voxel-based statistical analysis of the whole brain, incorporating spinal cord metrics, identified changes significantly correlated with age consistent with changes in myelination and iron content known to occur on a microstructural level during aging. Robust quantitative mapping will be of great benefit for establishing normative parameter values and gaining insight into the underlying causes of pathological conditions.

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Keywords

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