Abstract
Higher serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels in humans are associated with vascular pathology and greater risk for dementia, as well as lower global and regional volumes in frontal lobe and hippocampus. Calorie restriction (CR) in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) may confer neural protection against age- or Hcy-related vascular pathology. Hcy was collected proximal to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition in aged rhesus monkeys and regressed against volumetric and diffusion tensor imaging indexes using voxel-wise analyses. Higher Hcy was associated with lower white matter volume in pons and corpus callosum. Hcy was correlated with lower gray matter volume and density in prefrontal cortices and striatum. CR did not influence Hcy levels. However, control monkeys exhibited a strong negative correlation between Hcy and global gray matter, whereas no relationship was evident for the CR monkeys. Similar group differences were also seen across modalities in the splenium of the corpus callosum, prefrontal cortices, hippocampus, and somatosensory areas. The data suggest that CR may ameliorate the influence of Hcy on several important age-related parameters of parenchymal health.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 670-680 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Neurobiology of Aging |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2012 |
Keywords
- Aging
- Caloric restriction
- Diffusion tensor imaging
- Homocysteine
- Neural atrophy
- Primate
- Rhesus monkey
- Voxel-based morphometry
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neuroscience(all)
- Ageing
- Developmental Biology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology