Brain aging mechanisms with mechanical manifestations

•Brain aging leads to cerebral atrophy caused by various neurodegenerative processes.•Mechanics allows to relate biological changes to organ-level brain shape changes.•We summarize critical morphological changes and their underlying aging mechanisms. Brain aging is a complex process that affects eve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mechanisms of ageing and development Vol. 200; p. 111575
Main Authors: Blinkouskaya, Yana, Caçoilo, Andreia, Gollamudi, Trisha, Jalalian, Shima, Weickenmeier, Johannes
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.12.2021
Subjects:
Aging - metabolism
Aging - pathology
Atrophy
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - metabolism
Brain - pathology
Brain aging mechanisms
Cellular Senescence - physiology
Cerebral atrophy
Functional Neuroimaging - methods
Functional Neuroimaging - trends
Gray and white matter changes
Humans
Models, Biological
Morphological changes
Vascular changes
Morphological changes
Cerebral atrophy
Gray and white matter changes
Vascular changes
Brain aging mechanisms
ISSN:0047-6374, 1872-6216, 1872-6216
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Brain aging leads to cerebral atrophy caused by various neurodegenerative processes.•Mechanics allows to relate biological changes to organ-level brain shape changes.•We summarize critical morphological changes and their underlying aging mechanisms. Brain aging is a complex process that affects everything from the subcellular to the organ level, begins early in life, and accelerates with age. Morphologically, brain aging is primarily characterized by brain volume loss, cortical thinning, white matter degradation, loss of gyrification, and ventricular enlargement. Pathophysiologically, brain aging is associated with neuron cell shrinking, dendritic degeneration, demyelination, small vessel disease, metabolic slowing, microglial activation, and the formation of white matter lesions. In recent years, the mechanics community has demonstrated increasing interest in modeling the brain's (bio)mechanical behavior and uses constitutive modeling to predict shape changes of anatomically accurate finite element brain models in health and disease. Here, we pursue two objectives. First, we review existing imaging-based data on white and gray matter atrophy rates and organ-level aging patterns. This data is required to calibrate and validate constitutive brain models. Second, we review the most critical cell- and tissue-level aging mechanisms that drive white and gray matter changes. We focuse on aging mechanisms that ultimately manifest as organ-level shape changes based on the idea that the integration of imaging and mechanical modeling may help identify the tipping point when normal aging ends and pathological neurodegeneration begins.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ObjectType-Review-3
content type line 23
ISSN:0047-6374
1872-6216
1872-6216
DOI:10.1016/j.mad.2021.111575