FUNCTIONAL BRAIN IMAGING IN NORMAL AGING

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。本研究提出以下假设：1)大脑衰老过程中动态神经元网络特性发生变化，影响感觉和认知加工；2)这些变化可以通过脑磁图（MEG）进行量化。一般来说，尽管感觉处理发生在大脑的专用单元中，但随着年龄的增长，认知结合过程会以一种时间依赖性的方式发生改变，从而导致感觉-运动整合的改变。目的：1)对听觉诱发的丘脑-皮质脑活动的时间重置进行成像和分析。2)探讨正常人和老年人的生理躯体感觉阈值与初级感觉皮层特定神经活动模式之间是否存在相关性。3)成像并分析视觉诱发丘脑-皮质脑活动的时间重置。4)分析语言感知加工及其随年龄增长的变化。将招募165名受试者（每组15人，每组5岁，年龄在25-80岁之间），进行神经心理学测试和自发和感觉诱发的脑磁图测量，以检测与4个目标相关的刺激的重置和绑定参数。脑磁图的发现将叠加在MRI/MRS图像上，以揭示正常衰老过程中感觉和认知能力下降的潜在神经生物学相关性。此外，度量和光谱参数将用于定义受试者之间的相似性得分，以及个体得分。个体得分可以与神经心理学评估相关联。临床和认知评估将每2年重复一次。患者招募将包括nia支持的纽约大学阿尔茨海默病中心的现有患者。精神病学系也将提供特征明确、健康、认知正常的受试者。这是一个大胆的尝试来描述衰老对神经网络生理的影响，特别是当它涉及到在短时间内处理输入刺激时。使用脑磁图和核磁共振/MRS可以获得有关空间处理和神经元功能的信息。研究人员提出了一种普朗克式的感官处理量子方法。这项议定书已开始执行，征聘工作仍在继续。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study hypothesizes the following: 1) Changes in dynamic neuronal network properties occur in the aging brain that affect sensory and cognitive processing and 2) these changes can be quantified by Magnetoencephalography (MEG). In general, although sensory processing occurs in dedicated units of the brain, the cognitive binding process, altered in a time-dependent manner by the aging process, will result in modifications of sensory-motor integration. The aims are the following: 1) To image and analyze the temporal reset of the auditory-evoked thalamo-cortical brain activity. 2) To investigate whether correlations exist between psychophysical somatosensory thresholds and specific patterns of neural activity in the primary sensory cortex in normal and aging individuals. 3) To image and analyze the temporal reset of visual-evoked thalamo-cortical brain activity. 4) To analyze language perception processing and its changes during aging. 165 individuals (in groups of 15 per 5-year age categories from 25-80) will be recruited and subjected to neuropsychological testing and spontaneous and sensory-evoked MEG measurements to detect reset and binding parameters from stimuli relating to the 4 aims. MEG findings will be overlaid on MRI/MRS images to reveal underlying neurobiologic correlates of sensory and cognitive decline in normal aging. In addition, metric and spectral parameters will be used to define similarity scores between subjects, as well as individual scores. The individual scores can be correlated with neuropsychologic assessments. The clinical and cognitive assessments will be repeated at 2-year intervals. Patient recruitment will include an existing population of patients followed by the NIA-supported Alzheimer's Disease Center at NYU. The Dept. of Psychiatry will also provide well-characterized, healthy, cognitively normal subjects. This is a bold attempt to characterize the effects of aging on neuronal network physiology, particularly as it relates to processing input stimuli in short bursts of time. The use of MEG and MRI/MRS allows for information about spatial processing and neuronal function. A Planckian quantal approach to sensory processing was developed by the investigators. This protocol has been initiated and recruitment continues.