Age differences in spontaneous cerebrovascular reactivity at rest.

Allison C Engstrom, Shubir Dutt, John Paul M Alitin, Arunima Kapoor, Trevor Lohman, Isabel J Sible, Anisa J Marshall, Fatemah Shenasa, Jillian L Joyce, Aimée Gaubert, Farrah Ferrer, Amy Nguyen, Xingfeng Shao, Danny J J Wang, Daniel A Nation

Department of Psychological Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, University of California, Irvine, 4201, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA.Department of Psychological Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, University of California, Irvine, 4201, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA. · pubmed

Paper

Abstract

Deficits in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) may indicate vulnerability to vascular dysfunction and cognitive impairment. Prior findings on age-related change in CVR are mixed, and no studies to date have investigated age group differences in spontaneous CVR (sCVR) at rest. The present study compared whole brain and regional sCVR at rest between 24 healthy younger adults (ages 18-34) and 163 cognitively unimpaired older adults (ages 55-87). Relative to younger adults, older adults had deficits in both whole brain and regional sCVR at rest. Among the regions examined, medial temporal lobe areas showed the largest age differences in sCVR at rest. Age differences in sCVR and CBF variability were larger than age differences in mean CBF. Results show age-related deficits in sCVR are present even in cognitively unimpaired older adults, suggesting sCVR may be indicative of cerebrovascular aging. Further research should investigate sCVR as a means for early detection of age-related vascular dysfunction that may predate irreversible vascular brain injury.

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Research summary

The study claims that age-related deficits in spontaneous cerebrovascular reactivity (sCVR) are present even in cognitively unimpaired older adults. This research is relevant as it explores potential early indicators of cerebrovascular aging, which could contribute to understanding the mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases.

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