Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Ann Neurol. 2013 Dec;74(6):883-92. doi: 10.1002/ana.24003.
Brain tissue integrity is highly heritable, and its decline is a common phenomenon of ageing. This study aimed to determine whether the phenotype of familial longevity is marked by a relative preservation of brain tissue microstructure.
Participants were enrolled in the Leiden Longevity Study. In total, 185 middle-aged to elderly offspring of nonagenarian siblings, who were enriched for familial factors of longevity, were contrasted with 171 environment- and age-matched controls. All subjects underwent 3T whole brain magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging.
Voxel-wise analysis revealed widespread age-related decrease of white matter fractional anisotropy and increases of axial, radial, and mean diffusivity (all p < 0.003). Offspring showed higher mean white matter fractional anisotropy (mean [standard error]: offspring, 0.3232 [0.0009]; controls, 0.3212 [0.0009]; p = 0.04) compared to control subjects independent of cardiovascular risk factors. When differences in white matter diffusion parameters between offspring and control subjects were assessed voxel-wise, offspring showed higher white matter fractional anisotropy and lower white matter radial diffusivity predominantly in the callosal genu and body (both p < 0.003). With the effect of chronological age on white matter microstructure taken into account, offspring can be considered 4.5 years "biologically younger" compared to control subjects with regard to white matter integrity.
Both middle-aged to elderly offspring of nonagenarian siblings and control subjects show common age-related decline of white matter integrity, but it is less marked in the callosal genu and body in the offspring. This corresponds to a biological age benefit of 4.5 years of the offspring as compared to the control subjects.
脑组织完整性具有高度遗传性，其衰退是衰老的常见现象。本研究旨在确定家族长寿的表型是否以脑组织微观结构的相对保留为特征。
参与者被纳入莱顿长寿研究。共有 185 名 90 岁以上非兄弟姐妹高龄者的中年至老年后代，他们具有长寿的家族因素，与 171 名环境和年龄匹配的对照组进行对比。所有受试者均接受 3T 全脑磁共振扩散张量成像。
体素分析显示，广泛的与年龄相关的白质各向异性分数降低，轴突、径向和平均扩散率增加（均 p < 0.003）。后代的平均白质各向异性分数高于对照组（平均值[标准误差]：后代，0.3232 [0.0009]；对照组，0.3212 [0.0009]；p = 0.04），与心血管危险因素无关。当评估后代和对照组之间的白质扩散参数差异时，后代的白质各向异性分数较高，白质径向扩散率较低，主要在胼胝体膝部和体部（均 p < 0.003）。考虑到白质微观结构的年龄因素，与对照组相比，后代的白质完整性可被认为“生物学上年轻”4.5 岁。
90 岁以上非兄弟姐妹高龄者的中年至老年后代和对照组均表现出常见的与年龄相关的白质完整性下降，但在后代的胼胝体膝部和体部下降程度较低。这对应于后代相对于对照组的生物学年龄优势为 4.5 年。
