Using Fractal Dimension Analysis with the Desikan–Killiany Atlas to Assess the Effects of Normal Aging on Subregional Cortex Alterations in Adulthood

Abstract

Normal aging is associated with functional and structural alterations in the human brain. The effects of normal aging and gender on morphological changes in specific regions of the brain are unknown. The fractal dimension (FD) can be a quantitative measure of cerebral folding. In this study, we used 3D-FD analysis with the Desikan–Killiany (DK) atlas to assess subregional morphological changes in adulthood. A total of 258 participants (112 women and 146 men) aged 30–85 years participated in this study. Participants in the middle-age group exhibited a decreased FD in the lateral frontal lobes, which then spread to the temporal and parietal lobes. Men exhibited an earlier and more significant decrease in FD values, mainly in the right frontal and left parietal lobes. Men exhibited more of a decrease in FD values in the subregions on the left than those in the right, whereas women exhibited more of a decrease in the lateral subregions. Older men were at a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and exhibited age-related memory decline earlier than women. Our FD analysis using the DK atlas-based prediagnosis may provide a suitable tool for assessing normal aging and neurodegeneration between groups or in individual patients.

Age‐associated sex and asymmetry differentiation in hemispheric and lobar cortical ribbon complexity across adulthood: A UK Biobank imaging study

“…Our findings of more pronounced and widespread effects of ageing in males agree with Jao et al (2021), but are not in agreement with (Podg orski et al, 2021), reporting that cortical ageing is more complex in females. The relation between the cortical complexity decline and the clinical implication of its change is not known yet.…”

“…Using the Destrieux parcellation scheme, Madan and Kensinger ( 2016 ) measured shape‐related characteristics with FD in bilateral structures of each lobe ( n = 581, age ranged 20–86) and reported that age‐related decrease in FD was highest in the frontal lobe followed by the parietal lobe while the temporal lobe was least associated with age‐related difference. Recently, Jao et al ( 2021 ) studied subregional cortical changes using 3D‐FD analysis with Desikan–– (DK) atlas ( n = 258, age ranged 30–85 years) and reported a decrease in cortical complexity of all lobes of both hemispheres with age progression from adulthood to old age. The temporal, parietal, and left limbic lobes exhibited a significant decrease from mid‐life (45–60 years) to old age (>60 years).…”

Cortical complexity estimation using fractal dimension: A systematic review of the literature on clinical and nonclinical samples

“…Lastly, two studies observed that the decrease in FD was faster and more significant in males than in females (Jao et al, 2021; Li et al, 2011).…”

“…A negative relationship between age and FD has been reported both at the whole‐brain level (Madan & Kensinger, 2016, 2018; Marzi et al, 2020; McDonough & Madan, 2021) and at the regional level in the left DLPFC (Lu, 2020) and in the posterior wall of the right central sulcus (Li et al, 2011). Jao et al (2021) reported regional differences in FD between young adults (<45 years), middle adults (46–60 years) and old adults (>60 years) and observed a reduction in FD from young to middle age in the bilateral frontal, left temporal and right limbic lobes and a reduction in FD from middle to old age in the bilateral temporal, parietal and left limbic lobes. However, they also observed an increase in FD of the left middle orbitofrontal cortex from young to middle age and of the occipital lobe from middle to old age.…”

“…Nine studies analysed FD in healthy adult and elderly participants, and all observed a general reduction in FD with age (Jao et al, 2021; Li et al, 2011; Liu et al, 2020; Lu, 2020; Madan & Kensinger, 2018, 2016; Marzi et al, 2020; McDonough & Madan, 2021; Madan, 2021). A negative relationship between age and FD has been reported both at the whole‐brain level (Madan & Kensinger, 2016, 2018; Marzi et al, 2020; McDonough & Madan, 2021) and at the regional level in the left DLPFC (Lu, 2020) and in the posterior wall of the right central sulcus (Li et al, 2011).…”