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Gray Matter Atrophy in the Cerebellum—Evidence of Increased Vulnerability of the Crus and Vermis with Advancing Age

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Abstract

This study examined patterns of cerebellar volumetric gray matter (GM) loss across the adult lifespan in a large cross-sectional sample. Four hundred and seventy-nine healthy participants (age range: 7–86 years) were drawn from the Brain Resource International Database who provided T1-weighted MRI scans. The spatially unbiased infratentorial template (SUIT) toolbox in SPM8 was used for normalisation of the cerebellum structures. Global volumetric and voxel-based morphometry analyses were performed to evaluate age-associated trends and gender-specific age-patterns. Global cerebellar GM shows a cross-sectional reduction with advancing age of 2.5 % per decade—approximately half the rate seen in the whole brain. The male cerebellum is larger with a lower percentage of GM, however, after controlling for total brain volume, no gender difference was detected. Analysis of age-related changes in GM volume revealed large bilateral clusters involving the vermis and cerebellar crus where regional loss occurred at nearly twice the average cerebellar rate. No gender-specific patterns were detected. These data confirm that regionally specific GM loss occurs in the cerebellum with age, and form a solid base for further investigation to find functional correlates for this global and focal loss.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the data and support provided by BRAINnet; www.BRAINnet.net, under the governance of the BRAINnet Foundation. BRAINnet is the scientific network that coordinates access to the Brain Resource International Database for independent scientific purposes. We also thank the individuals who gave their time to participate in the database. The staff at the Department of Radiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney and at Wakefield Imaging, Adelaide are thanked for their support. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Prof Richard Clark for overseeing the data collection at the Adelaide site. MSK is supported by the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship (APP1090148) and Project Grant (APP1008080). SMG acknowledges the support of the Sydney Medical School Foundation and the Parker Hughes Bequest, University of Sydney.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Millennium Institute and Sydney Medical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Teresa Yu, Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar & Stuart M. Grieve

  2. Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar

  3. Sydney Translational Imaging Laboratory, Heart Research Institute, Charles Perkins Centre and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar & Stuart M. Grieve

  4. Department of Radiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Stuart M. Grieve

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  1. Teresa Yu
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  2. Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar
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Correspondence to Stuart M. Grieve.

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Yu, T., Korgaonkar, M.S. & Grieve, S.M. Gray Matter Atrophy in the Cerebellum—Evidence of Increased Vulnerability of the Crus and Vermis with Advancing Age. Cerebellum 16, 388–397 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-016-0813-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-016-0813-x

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