Structural and Functional Imaging Correlates for Age-Related Changes in the Brain

In recent years, investigators have made significant progress in documenting brain structure and function as it relates to aging by using positron emission tomography, conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, advanced MR techniques, and functional MR imaging. This review summarizes the latest advances in understanding physiologic maturation and aging as detected by these neuroimaging modalities. We also present our experience with MR volumetric and positron emission tomography analysis in separate cohorts of healthy subjects in the pediatric and adult age groups respectively. Our results are consistent with previous studies and include the following: total brain volume was found to increase with age (up to 20 years of age). Whole brain metabolism and frontal lobe metabolism both decrease significantly with age (38% and 42%, respectively), whereas cerebellar metabolism does not show a significant decline with age. Defining normal alterations in brain function and structure allows early detection of disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, which are commonly associated with normal aging.