Jagust William
School of Public Health, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Curr Alzheimer Res. 2007 Apr;4(2):135-9. doi: 10.2174/156720507780362146.
Brain imaging has played a major role in exploring abnormalities of brain structure and function in aging and dementia. Recently, with reports linking obesity to cognitive decline and dementia, magnetic resonance imaging has been used to investigate how brain structure may be altered with obesity. These studies have convincingly demonstrated both generalized and regional brain atrophy and changes in white matter in association with obesity. These results do not appear to be simply explained by links to cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms underlying these alterations are unclear and could be accounted for by a number of different processes that are known to alter brain structure and which could also be related to obesity. Application of additional imaging methods could help to establish the pathway through which obesity produces cognitive decline and dementia.
脑成像在探索衰老和痴呆症患者脑结构与功能异常方面发挥了重要作用。最近，随着有报道称肥胖与认知能力下降和痴呆症有关，磁共振成像已被用于研究肥胖如何改变脑结构。这些研究令人信服地证明，与肥胖相关的脑萎缩和白质变化既存在于全脑，也存在于特定区域。这些结果似乎不能简单地用与心血管疾病的关联来解释。然而，这些改变背后的机制尚不清楚，可能是由许多已知会改变脑结构且可能与肥胖有关的不同过程导致的。应用其他成像方法可能有助于确定肥胖导致认知能力下降和痴呆症的途径。
