3 minute read
Neuroimaging
by CHeBA
The Neuroimaging Group is dedicated to researching the ageing of the human brain. By studying neuroimaging modalities, we aim to improve understanding of brain ageing pathways, which in turn will lead to clinical advances in prediction, diagnosis and treatment.
Advertisement
We are interested in computational neuroanatomy: the development of a comprehensive structural and functional model of the brain. Our neuroimaging studies address normal ageing, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.
Staff
Dr Jiyang Jiang Dr Jing Du
Students
Heidi Foo Abdullah Alqarni Dr Jing Du Chao Dong
Associate Professor Wei Wen
Group Leader
New Imaging Measure to Track Brain Ageing
In 2021 the Neuroimaging Group developed an improved neuroimaging measure to monitor age-related cognitive decline in older adults.
The findings, published in NeuroImage, indicate that the measure – named ‘Difference in Distribution Function’ will ultimately assist in monitoring the ageing process and brain changes seen in Vascular dementias and Alzheimer’s disease.
Diffusion Weighted Imaging has been the most widely recognised neuroimaging technique for evaluating the microstructure of white matter in the brain, with white matter integrity critical to normal brain structure and function. Various diffusion weighted imaging measures have been developed to investigate white matter but all have had inherent limitations. Leader of CHeBA’s Neuroimaging Group Associate Professor Wei Wen said that there was a distinct need for an enhanced neuroimaging measure to be developed to overcome these limitations.
Lead author Dr Jing Du said that white matter is important because it is vulnerable to the effect of vascular risk factors.
Dr Jing Du
Dr Du and colleagues are delighted their work is clinically meaningful and immediately useful to the global neuroimaging community, with the computer program for the improved measure already accessible online: https://bit.ly/CHeBANeuroimaging_DCDF.
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118381
Changes to Hippocampus in Alzheimer’s Disease
Research led by Dr Heidi Foo has found that specific subregions within the hippocampus may be key in understanding Alzheimer’s disease.
The hippocampus is one of the regions in the brain that has been frequently used in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease – the most common type of dementia - with hippocampal volume an important biomarker of the disease. Genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease is also indicated by hippocampal atrophy.
The research, published in Neurobiology of Aging, examined the factors which influence the subregions of the hippocampus, with findings suggesting that older individuals showed greater vulnerability to higher Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk compared to younger individuals.
Dr Heidi Foo
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2020.11.002
Human Longevity is Associated with Brain White Matter Hyperintensities
More research from the Neuroimaging Group revealed new insights into the relationship between human longevity and brain white matter lesions - white matter hyperintensities.
The findings, published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences, explored the association between longevity and brain volumes of white matter lesions, a marker of cerebral small vessel disease, from a UK Biobank cohort aged 45-81 years. The researchers also replicated the findings in a combined sample from CHeBA’s Sydney Memory and Ageing Study and Older Australian Twins Study, aged 66-93 years.
Lead author, Chao Dong, explained that lower volumes of white matter hyperintensities were associated with longer parental lifespan as well as higher polygenic risk for longevity.
According to Ms Dong this robust association suggests that longevity-related genes may provide some protection against white matter disease. “Longlived people tend to have lower risk of developing ageing-related diseases, such as cerebral small vessel disease, and my study shows that this is also true for a related neuroimaging abnormality, white matter hyperintensities, which may play an important role in promoting longevity.”
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glab323
