Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan.
Neuroradiology. 2010 Oct;52(10):865-73. doi: 10.1007/s00234-009-0641-5. Epub 2009 Dec 23.
The effects of aging on brain volume are generally investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) or the manually traced region-of-interest (ROI) method. We introduce an atlas-based method as a methodological alternative that calculates absolute volume as a non-biased and semi-automatic whole-brain technique.
We enrolled 115 healthy females (mean age, 36.7 years) and 130 healthy males (mean age, 37.1 years). Volume data were acquired using a 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance scanner. After spatial normalization, a lobar-based atlas template was applied, and the absolute volumes of the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes and the sublobar and limbic areas were calculated bilaterally. The effects of age on regional brain volume were evaluated statistically.
The volume of all ROIs declined linearly with increasing age. The bilateral frontal lobes showed the steepest involution. Analysis of variance revealed significant laterality and interaction of gender and age.
The atlas-based method introduced in the present study has advantages over the manually traced ROI method in its objectivity, coverage, and time requirement and has an advantage over the VBM method in its computability of absolute volume. The results are largely in agreement with those reported previously, thereby reconfirming the importance of matching gender and age in analyzing brain disorders.
通常使用基于体素的形态计量学（VBM）或手动勾画感兴趣区（ROI）的方法来研究年龄对脑容量的影响。我们引入了一种基于图谱的方法作为一种替代方法，该方法可以计算绝对体积，是一种无偏且半自动的全脑技术。
我们纳入了 115 名健康女性（平均年龄 36.7 岁）和 130 名健康男性（平均年龄 37.1 岁）。使用 1.5T 磁共振扫描仪获取容积数据。在空间归一化后，应用基于脑叶的图谱模板，双侧计算额、颞、顶和枕叶以及亚叶和边缘区域的绝对体积。使用统计学方法评估年龄对脑区体积的影响。
所有 ROI 的体积均随年龄增长呈线性下降。双侧额叶的退行性变最为明显。方差分析显示，性别和年龄存在显著的侧化和交互作用。
本研究中引入的基于图谱的方法在客观性、覆盖范围和时间要求方面优于手动勾画 ROI 方法，在绝对体积的计算方面优于 VBM 方法。结果与先前的报道基本一致，再次证实了在分析脑疾病时匹配性别和年龄的重要性。
