Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer’s disease

James M. Roe*, Didac Vidal-Piñeiro, Øystein Sørensen, Andreas M. Brandmaier, Sandra Düzel, Hector A. Gonzalez, Rogier A. Kievit, Ethan Knights, Simone Kühn, Ulman Lindenberger, Athanasia M. Mowinckel, Lars Nyberg, Denise C. Park, Sara Pudas, Melissa M. Rundle, Kristine B. Walhovd, Anders M. Fjell, René Westerhausen, The Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    81 Citations (Scopus)
    50 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are associated with progressive brain disorganization. Although structural asymmetry is an organizing feature of the cerebral cortex it is unknown whether continuous age- and AD-related cortical degradation alters cortical asymmetry. Here, in multiple longitudinal adult lifespan cohorts we show that higher-order cortical regions exhibiting pronounced asymmetry at age ~20 also show progressive asymmetry-loss across the adult lifespan. Hence, accelerated thinning of the (previously) thicker homotopic hemisphere is a feature of aging. This organizational principle showed high consistency across cohorts in the Lifebrain consortium, and both the topological patterns and temporal dynamics of asymmetry-loss were markedly similar across replicating samples. Asymmetry-change was further accelerated in AD. Results suggest a system-wide dedifferentiation of the adaptive asymmetric organization of heteromodal cortex in aging and AD.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number721
    Pages (from-to)1-11
    Number of pages11
    JournalNature Communications
    Volume12
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2021

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s) 2021. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Correction paper can be found at Roe, J.M., Vidal-Piñeiro, D., Sørensen, Ø. et al. Author Correction: Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer’s disease. Nat Commun 13, 834 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28514-2

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Asymmetric thinning of the cerebral cortex across the adult lifespan is accelerated in Alzheimer’s disease'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this