The Influence of Physiological Aging and Atrophy on Brain Viscoelastic Properties in Humans

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 9; p. e23451
• Main Authors: Sack, Ingolf, Streitberger, Kaspar-Josche, Krefting, Dagmar, Paul, Friedemann, Braun, Jürgen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 12.09.2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acoustics; Adolescent; Adult; Age; Age composition; Aged; Aging; Aging - pathology; Aging - physiology; Atrophy; Atrophy - diagnostic imaging; Atrophy - pathology; Atrophy - physiopathology; Boundary conditions; Brain; Brain - pathology; Brain - physiology; Brain - physiopathology; Brain research; Cross-Sectional Studies; Degeneration; Elasticity; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; Frontal lobe; Health informatics; Humans; Life span; Magnetic properties; Magnetic resonance; Male; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Medicine; Middle Aged; Morphology; Musculoskeletal system; Neurodegeneration; Neurons; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Older people; Oligodendrocytes; Organ Size; Physics; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Polymers; Propagation; Quantitative analysis; Shrinkage; Trends; Viscoelasticity; Viscosity; Young Adult; Germany

Physiological aging of the brain is accompanied by ubiquitous degeneration of neurons and oligodendrocytes. An alteration of the cellular matrix of an organ impacts its macroscopic viscoelastic properties which can be detected by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)--to date the only method for mea...