Higher cerebral blood flow on four-dimensional flow magnetic resonance imaging in young women.
Shigeki YamadaHiroto KawanoTomohiro OtaniSatoshi IiHirotaka ItoKo OkadaChifumi IsekiMotoki TanikawaKazumichi YoshidaYoshiyuki WatanabeShigeo WadaMarie OshimaMitsuhito MasePublished in: Science progress (2024)
We investigated the reduction in regional brain volume and cerebral blood flow (CBF) with aging and explored potential sex differences in healthy brains. Three-dimensional (3D) T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography, and four-dimensional (4D) flow MRI were performed on 129 healthy volunteers aged 22-92 years. The brains of healthy volunteers were segmented into 21 subregions using 3D T1-weighted MRI and CBFs in 16 major intracranial arteries were measured using 4D flow MRI. The cortical gray matter volume decreased linearly with aging, whereas the cerebral white matter volume increased until the 40s and then decreased, and the subcortical gray matter volume changed little with aging. The cortical gray matter volume was significantly associated with the total CBF of the major intracranial arteries distal to the circle of Willis; however, the cerebral white matter and subcortical gray matter volumes were not. Generally, women have higher total CBF than men, particularly in their 40s and younger, despite the smaller intracranial volume and smaller diameters of intracranial arteries than men. This may contribute to the higher incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage due to cerebral aneurysms and migraine in women.
Keyphrases
- contrast enhanced
- white matter
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- magnetic resonance imaging
- cerebral blood flow
- magnetic resonance
- cerebral ischemia
- brain injury
- computed tomography
- diffusion weighted imaging
- multiple sclerosis
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- optic nerve
- optical coherence tomography
- metabolic syndrome
- mass spectrometry
- type diabetes
- risk factors
- blood flow
- skeletal muscle
- network analysis
- climate change
- blood brain barrier
- human health