Rus-Oswald Oana G, Benner Jan, Reinhardt Julia, Bürki Céline, Christiner Markus, Hofmann Elke, Schneider Peter, Stippich Christoph, Kressig Reto W, Blatow Maria
Department of Neuroradiology, Clinical Neuroscience Center, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
University Department of Geriatric Medicine FELIX PLATTER, Basel, Switzerland.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Mar 25;14:807971. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.807971. eCollection 2022.
Professional musicians are a model population for exploring basic auditory function, sensorimotor and multisensory integration, and training-induced neuroplasticity. The brain of musicians exhibits distinct structural and functional cortical features; however, little is known about how these features evolve during aging. This multiparametric study aimed to examine the functional and structural neural correlates of lifelong musical practice in elderly professional musicians.
Sixteen young musicians, 16 elderly musicians (age >70), and 15 elderly non-musicians participated in the study. We assessed gray matter metrics at the whole-brain and region of interest (ROI) levels using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the Freesurfer automatic segmentation and reconstruction pipeline. We used BrainVoyager semiautomated segmentation to explore individual auditory cortex morphotypes. Furthermore, we evaluated functional blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activations in auditory and non-auditory regions by functional MRI (fMRI) with an attentive tone-listening task. Finally, we performed discriminant function analyses based on structural and functional ROIs.
A general reduction of gray matter metrics distinguished the elderly from the young subjects at the whole-brain level, corresponding to widespread natural brain atrophy. Age- and musicianship-dependent structural correlations revealed group-specific differences in several clusters including superior, middle, and inferior frontal as well as perirolandic areas. In addition, the elderly musicians exhibited increased gyrification of auditory cortex like the young musicians. During fMRI, the elderly non-musicians activated predominantly auditory regions, whereas the elderly musicians co-activated a much broader network of auditory association areas, primary and secondary motor areas, and prefrontal and parietal regions like, albeit weaker, the young musicians. Also, group-specific age- and musicianship-dependent functional correlations were observed in the frontal and parietal regions. Moreover, discriminant function analysis could separate groups with high accuracy based on a set of specific structural and functional, mainly temporal and occipital, ROIs.
In conclusion, despite naturally occurring senescence, the elderly musicians maintained musicianship-specific structural and functional cortical features. The identified structural and functional brain regions, discriminating elderly musicians from non-musicians, might be of relevance for the aging musicians' brain. To what extent lifelong musical activity may have a neuroprotective impact needs to be addressed further in larger longitudinal studies.
职业音乐家是探索基本听觉功能、感觉运动和多感官整合以及训练诱导的神经可塑性的典型人群。音乐家的大脑表现出独特的结构和功能皮质特征；然而，对于这些特征在衰老过程中如何演变知之甚少。这项多参数研究旨在检查老年职业音乐家中终身音乐练习的功能和结构神经相关性。
16名年轻音乐家、16名老年音乐家（年龄>70岁）和15名老年非音乐家参与了该研究。我们使用高分辨率磁共振成像（MRI）和Freesurfer自动分割与重建管道，在全脑和感兴趣区域（ROI）水平评估灰质指标。我们使用BrainVoyager半自动分割来探索个体听觉皮质形态类型。此外，我们通过功能磁共振成像（fMRI）和注意力音调聆听任务评估听觉和非听觉区域的功能血氧水平依赖（BOLD）激活。最后，我们基于结构和功能ROI进行判别函数分析。
在全脑水平上，灰质指标的普遍降低将老年人与年轻人区分开来，这与广泛的自然脑萎缩相对应。年龄和音乐素养相关的结构相关性揭示了包括额上回、额中回和额下回以及中央旁小叶区域在内的几个簇中的组特异性差异。此外，老年音乐家与年轻音乐家一样，听觉皮质的脑回化增加。在功能磁共振成像期间，老年非音乐家主要激活听觉区域，而老年音乐家共同激活了更广泛的听觉联合区域、初级和次级运动区域以及前额叶和顶叶区域网络，尽管比年轻音乐家弱。此外，在额叶和顶叶区域观察到了组特异性的年龄和音乐素养相关的功能相关性。此外，判别函数分析可以基于一组特定的结构和功能ROI（主要是颞叶和枕叶）高精度地分离各组。
总之，尽管存在自然衰老，但老年音乐家保持了与音乐素养相关的结构和功能皮质特征。所确定的区分老年音乐家和非音乐家的大脑结构和功能区域可能与老年音乐家的大脑有关。终身音乐活动在多大程度上可能具有神经保护作用，需要在更大规模的纵向研究中进一步探讨。
