Multimodal imaging of the aging brain: Baseline findings of the LoCARPoN study

Abstract

We quantified and investigated multimodal brain MRI measures in the LoCARPoN Study due to lack of normative data among Indians. A total of 401 participants (aged 50–88 years) without stroke or dementia completed MRI investigation. We assessed 31 brain measures in total using four brain MRI modalities, including macrostructural (global & lobar volumes, white matter hyperintensities [WMHs]), microstructural (global and tract-specific white matter fractional anisotropy [WM-FA] and mean diffusivity [MD]) and perfusion measures (global and lobar cerebral blood flow [CBF]). The absolute brain volumes of males were significantly larger than those of females, but such differences were relatively small (<1.2% of intracranial volume). With increasing age, lower macrostructural brain volumes, lower WM-FA, greater WMHs, higher WM-MD were found (P = 0.00018, Bonferroni threshold). Perfusion measures did not show significant differences with increasing age. Hippocampal volume showed the greatest association with age, with a reduction of approximately 0.48%/year. This preliminary study augments and provides insight into multimodal brain measures during the nascent stages of aging among the Indian population (South Asian ethnicity). Our findings establish the groundwork for future hypothetical testing studies.