Differences in structural and functional networks between young adult and aged rat brains before and after stroke lesion simulations.

Differences in structural and functional networks between young adult and aged rat brains before and after stroke lesion simulations. Neurobiol Dis. 2018 Aug 04;: Authors: Straathof M, Sinke MRT, van der Toorn A, Weerheim PL, Otte WM, Dijkhuizen RM Abstract Neural network changes during aging may contribute to vulnerability and resilience to brain lesions in age-related neurological disorders, such as stroke. However, the relationship between age-related neural network features and stroke outcome is unknown. Therefore, we assessed structural and functional network status in young adult and aged rat brain, and measured the effects of simulated stroke lesions. Eleven rats underwent diffusion-weighted MRI and resting-state functional MRI at young adult age (post-natal day 88) and old age (between post-natal day 760 and 880). Structural and functional brain network features were calculated from graph-based network analysis. We performed three lesion simulations based on the brain injury pattern in frequently applied rodent stroke models, i.e. a small cortical lesion, a subcortical lesion, or a large cortical plus subcortical lesion, for which we computationally removed the involved network regions. Global network characteristics, i.e. integration and segregation, were not significantly different between the two age groups. However, we detected local differences in structural and functional networks between young adult and old rats, mainl...
Source: Neurobiology of Disease - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Dis Source Type: research
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