Brain Development and Aging Using Large Brain MRI Database

Now we confront a super aging society in Japan. In the situation, it is important to preserve our cognitive function for entire life by preventing us from pathological brain aging. To perform the aim, we have built a large brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) database from around 3,000 subjects aged from 5 to 80 in order to reveal how brain develops and ages. We have also collected several cognitive functions, lifestyle such as eating and sleeping habits, and genetic data. Using the database, we have revealed normal brain development and aging and also have revealed what factors affect brain development and aging. For example, sleep duration is significantly associated with the gray matter volume of the bilateral hippocampi. In addition, there were significant negative correlation between alcohol drinking and gray matter volume of the frontoparietal region and body mass index and gray matter volume of the hippocampus in cross-sectional analysis. In addition, having intellectual curiosity showed significant negative correlation with regional gray matter volume decline rate in the temporoparietal region. These findings help understanding the mechanism of brain development and aging as well as performing differential diagnosis or diagnosis at an early stage of several diseases/disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease.