Ev. Sullivan et al., Equivalent disruption of regional white matter microstructure in ageing healthy men and women, NEUROREPORT, 12(1), 2001, pp. 99-104
Diffusion tensor imaging was used to measure regional differences in brain
white matter microstructure (intravoxel coherence) and macrostructure (inte
rvoxel coherence) and age-related differences between men and women. Neurop
sychiatrically healthy men and women. spanning the adult age range, showed
the same pattern of variation in regional white matter coherence. The great
est coherence measured was in corpus callosum, where commissural fibers hav
e one primary orientation, lower in the centrum semiovale, where fibers cro
ss from multiple axes, and lowest in pericallosal areas, where fibers weave
and interstitial fluid commonly pools. Age-related declines in intravoxel
coherence was equally strong and strikingly similar in men and women, with
evidence for greater age-dependent deterioration in frontal than parietal r
egions. Degree of regional white matter coherence correlated with gait, bal
ance, and interhemispheric transfer test scores. NeuroReport 12:99-104 (C)
2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.