2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Identifying Brain Imaging Biomarker using Regularity Dimension for Studying Age Related Cognitive Decline

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24800052
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Intelligent informatics
Research Institution	The University of Aizu
Principal Investigator	PHAM Tuan Duc 会津大学, 先端情報科学研究センター, 教授 (70631472)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	脳画像バイオマーカー
Research Abstract	We found an increasing cortical structural irregularity with aging which might indicate an age-related exacerbation of cortical structural irregularity. This supports previous MRI-volumetric observations that cortical atrophy occurred before the onset of dementia, progressed with aging, and accelerated once dementia starts. We depicted a profile of the increasing complexity in cortical surface structure from young health to clinically healthy elders, then to clinically diagnosed AD. Particularly, we detected a significant difference between elder dements and their age- and gender-matched controls. This demonstrated acceleration of brain aging in those elder demented individuals which align with the concept of progressive neuro-degeneration in AD individuals. Alzheimer's disease may exhibit a characteristic pattern of atrophy different from that due to aging, even accelerated aging.

(5 results)