MAPPING THE HUMAN CONNECTOME DURING TYPICAL AGING

人类大脑成像的主要技术和分析进展， 连接组项目（HCP）能够检查大脑的结构和功能连接， 前所未有的空间和时间分辨率。这些信息对于提高 我们对年轻人大脑连接的正常变化的理解。现在正是使用这些工具的时候， HCP开发的分析方法，以了解大脑的结构和功能布线 在老化过程中的变化。使用最先进的HCP成像方法将使研究者能够 将我们目前对正常大脑衰老的有限理解推向新的水平。我们提出一项努力， 一个由五个地点组成的联合体（马萨诸塞州总医院、加州大学洛杉矶分校、 明尼苏达大学、圣路易斯的华盛顿大学和牛津大学）， 在人类大脑成像和衰老方面的专业知识，包括许多与原始成年人有关的研究人员， 和试点生命周期HCP的努力。这种协同整合的进步，从MGH和吴明牛津 在老龄化方面拥有尖端专业知识的HCP为我们提供了前所未有的机会， 了解人类大脑连接随年龄增长的规范性变化。目标1是优化 现有的HCP寿命试点项目协议，以尊重研究年龄较大的成年人的实际限制 范围，包括非常老的（80岁以上）。目标2将是收集高质量的神经影像，行为， 其他数据集的1200个人的年龄范围在36 - 100+岁，使用匹配的协议跨网站。 这将使强大的横截面分析年龄相关的变化，包括网络属性的指标 连接性、网络完整性、任务期间的响应特性和行为。目标3是收集和 分析纵向数据的子集300个人在三个欠研究和科学有趣的 年龄组：36 - 44岁（当晚熟和早期衰老过程可能同时发生时）; 45 - 59岁 （围绝经期，此时激素的快速变化会影响认知和大脑）;以及80 - 100岁以上（ "非常老"，其大脑可能反映出"健康幸存者"状态）。获得的与这些有关的信息 重要的时期将增强我们对荷尔蒙变化等重要现象的理解 影响大脑，并将提供深入了解的因素，使认知完整的功能到先进的老龄化。 Aim 4将利用我们在人类连接组项目（HCP）中共享数据的成功，并将使用 这些既定的工具、平台和程序，使这些数据通过 连接组协调设施。

The major technological and analytical advances in human brain imaging achieved as part of the Human Connectome Projects (HCP) enable examination of structural and functional brain connectivity at unprecedented levels of spatial and temporal resolution. This information is proving invaluable for enhancing our understanding of normative variation in young adult brain connectivity. It is now timely to use the tools and analytical approaches developed by the HCP to understand how structural and functional wiring of the brain changes during the aging process. Using state-of-the art HCP imaging approaches will allow investigators to push our currently limited understanding of normative brain aging to new levels. We propose an effort involving a consortium of five sites (Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Minnesota, Washington University in St. Louis, and Oxford University), with extensive complementary expertise in human brain imaging and aging and including many investigators associated with the original adult and pilot lifespan HCP efforts. This synergistic integration of advances from the MGH and WU-MINN-OXFORD HCPs with cutting-edge expertise in aging provides an unprecedented opportunity to advance our understanding of the normative changes in human brain connectivity with aging. Aim 1 will be to optimize existing HCP Lifespan Pilot project protocols to respect practical constraints in studying adults over a wide age range, including the very old (80+ years). Aim 2 will be to collect high quality neuroimaging, behavioral, and other datasets on 1200 individuals in the age range of 36 – 100+ years, using matched protocols across sites. This will enable robust cross-sectional analyses of age-related changes in network properties including metrics of connectivity, network integrity, response properties during tasks, and behavior. Aim 3 will be to collect and analyze longitudinal data on a subset of 300 individuals in three understudied and scientifically interesting groups: ages 36-44 (when late maturational and early aging processes may co-occur); ages 45-59 (perimenopausal, when rapid hormonal changes can affect cognition and the brain); and ages 80 – 100+ (the `very old', whose brains may reflect a `healthy survivor' state). The information gained relating to these important periods will enhance our understanding of how important phenomena such as hormonal changes affect the brain and will provide insights into factors that enable cognitively intact function into advanced aging. Aim 4 will capitalize on our success in sharing data in the Human Connectome Project (HCP), and will use these established tools, platforms, and procedures to make this data publicly available through the Connectome Coordination Facility.