Fronto-temporal connectivity and memory: patterns of breakdown in ageing and diseases of old age

额颞连接和记忆：衰老和老年疾病的崩溃模式

• 批准号: G0701912/1
• 负责人: Michael O'Sullivan
• 金额: $ 107.95万
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0701912%2F1
• 关键词: Fronto; temporal; connectivity; memory; patterns

Loss of memory is one of the most devastating afflictions of later life yet we still know relatively little about the different causes of age-related memory decline. Recent studies in animals suggest that white matter connections (the wiring of the brain) between key structures involved in memory, are critically important, especially in rapid aging, Alzheimer‘s disease and vascular dementia. New developments in brain imaging - such as diffusion tensor MRI, which allows white matter fibres in the living brain to be traced, and functional neuroimaging, which reveals patterns of brain activity while performing cognitive tasks - provide the opportunity to explore the importance of these connections in memory, and how they may contribute to the different patterns of memory change seen in old age. This research project will apply these new techniques alongside novel tests of memory based on research in animals. One central challenge will be to test whether changes in connectivity hold the key to understanding the boundary between normal ageing and early Alzheimer‘s disease.

记忆丧失是晚年生活中最具破坏性的痛苦之一，但我们对与年龄相关的记忆衰退的不同原因仍然知之甚少。最近对动物的研究表明，参与记忆的关键结构之间的白质连接（大脑的线路）至关重要，特别是在快速衰老、阿尔茨海默病和血管性痴呆中。脑成像的新发展——例如可以追踪活体大脑中的白质纤维的扩散张量磁共振成像，以及揭示执行认知任务时大脑活动模式的功能神经成像——提供了探索这些连接在记忆中的重要性的机会，以及它们如何促进老年记忆变化的不同模式。该研究项目将应用这些新技术以及基于动物研究的新颖记忆测试。一项核心挑战将是测试连通性的变化是否是理解正常衰老与早期阿尔茨海默病之间界限的关键。