Resting state brain glucose metabolism is not reduced in normotensive healthy men during aging, after correction for brain atrophy

Vicente Ibáñez, Pietro Pietrini, Maura L. Furey, Gene E. Alexander, Philippe Millet, Arun L.W. Bokde, Diane Teichberg, Mark B. Schapiro, Barry Horwitz, Stanley I. Rapoport

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies using positron emission tomography (PET) have reported that global and regional values for cerebral blood flow and metabolic rates for glucose (CMRglc and rCMRglc) decline with age in humans. We wished to determine if such decreases could have reflected a partial volume effect (PVE) of cerebral atrophy in the elderly, rather than "intrinsic" reductions per gram brain. We used PET to compare rCMRglc, before and after correcting for the PVE, between 13 healthy older men (aged: 55-82 years) and 11 healthy young men (aged: 22-34 years). PET was performed with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose while the subjects were in the "resting" state (eyes covered and ears plugged with cotton). The PET scans were normalized to a common brain volume after superimposing them on the subjects' tissue segmented magnetic resonance scans. Analysis showed that rCMRglc in the absence of a PVE correction was significantly less in the older group in insular, frontal, superior temporal cortical, and thalamic regions. Statistical significant differences in rCMRglc, however, were absent after the PVE correction. Thus, statistically significant age reductions in regional brain glucose metabolism, corrected for brain atrophy, are not detectable in healthy normotensive men scanned while in the resting state.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)147-154
Number of pages8
JournalBrain Research Bulletin
Volume63
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 15 2004
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Atrophy
  • Brain
  • Glucose
  • Human
  • Positron
  • Tomography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Resting state brain glucose metabolism is not reduced in normotensive healthy men during aging, after correction for brain atrophy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this