| Budget Amount *help |
¥31,330,000 (Direct Cost: ¥24,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥7,230,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥7,540,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,740,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥9,490,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥2,190,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥14,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥11,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,300,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The human brain exhibits a complex network and makes information transmission with high efficiency. We performed network analysis based on graph theory using a large scale brain MRI database of healthy Japanese. The results indicated that subjects from children to older age exhibited a “small-world” property in that they are characterized by highly connected hubs and modularity. Structural brain networks in three age groups (young, middle, old) changed developed into a more distributed organization from young to middle age and then altered greatly, shifting into a more localized organization in old age. The modular organization of brain network was similar between the young and middle age groups, but quite different from the older groups. In particular, the old group showed a notable decrease in the connector ratio and the inter-module connection. Our findings provide quantitative insights into topological principles of brain networks and changes related to normal aging.
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