Neuroimaging Core

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NEUROIMAGING CORE SUMMARY Much has yet to be understood about the brains of "superagers" and what and how resilience factors impact the typical brain-aging trajectory and identify which aspects of brain reserve are most associated with preserved cognition functioning in centenarian cognitive superagers. The Neuroimaging Core oversees the acquisition, storage, and analysis of imaging data at four participating imaging centers: MGH (Boston), Columbia University (NYC), UCLA (Los Angeles) and Georgia State University (Atlanta). These sites have identical scanners, the Siemens Prisma 3T MRI, that are also the most advanced pulse sequencers available. The Core will optimize acquisition and analysis approaches to ensure that the data across centers are highly standardized and achieve equivalent contrast to noise ratios (CNRs) to ensure that data integration is successful. The Core's broad goal is to answer specific questions about resilience by identifying a set of high-resolution pulse sequences that examine brain structure and function, in a time interval tolerable for centenarians, using state of the art data analysis techniques. The NIC’s general hypothesis is that preserved structural and functional connectivity are essential to long-term preserved cognition. This hypothesis will be tested by generating optimal MRI data combined with analysis tools designed to examine network dynamics and longitudinal trajectories, focusing on brain networks and regions most critical to cognition and memory. The three specific aims are: Aim 1: Test and deploy across four sites, state-of-the -art pulse sequences on the Siemens 3T Prisma platform that are essential for understanding the resilient brain structure including the methods:, navigator-enabled high-resolution T1 (multi- echo) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging, multi-band resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, inhomogeneous magnetic transfer imaging (ihMT), pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL), and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). Aim 2: Add a 10-minute diffusion prepared (DP) 3D gradient and spin-echo (GRASE) pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) sequence to assess BBB function by quantifying BBB water exchange rate (kw) without contrast agents. To assess the reliability of this measure in extremely old individuals, to compare their MRI BBB results with neuropathological assessment of the BBB (the neuropathology portion of the Phenotyping & Biosample Core). Aim 3: Perform ongoing with- and between-site quality assurance, pre-processing for image standardization and bias corrections, and centralize data across sites into an imaging data repository. Aim 4: Conduct image analysis that combines data across sites/within modality; create output metrics for each data type, and in conjunction with the projects, assist in integrating imaging measures into project hypotheses. The imaging centers are joined and further integrated by a state-of- the-art data analysis center at UCLA. Experts in imaging statistics interface with the other RADCO cores and projects to integrate data types for hypothesis testing.