In vivo whole‐brain T1‐rho mapping across adulthood: Normative values and age dependence

Purpose To report a systematic investigation of variations in brain T 1ρ (T1‐rho) values over adulthood, and present normative values for cortical gray matter, juxtacortical white matter, selected white matter tracts and subcortical structures. Materials and Methods Forty‐one healthy control subjects (23 males aged 18–76 years and 18 females aged 21–73 years) were imaged at 3.0 Tesla (T) using a novel whole‐brain T 1ρ ‐weighted fluid suppressed three‐dimensional turbo spin echo technique. T 1ρ maps were calculated and atlas‐based segmentation used to determine regional T 1ρ values. Linear regression was used to determine changes in T 1ρ with age. Results T 1ρ values showed significant decreases with age in cortical gray matter ( P < 0.001), left and right caudate ( P = 0.004/0.006), putamen ( P = 0.001, P < 0.001), hippocampus ( P = 0.039/0.010), amygdala ( P = 0.002/0.001), and nucleus accumbens ( P = 0.001/0.002). Significant increases with age ( P < 0.05) were observed in all the white matter tracts considered, except the corticospinal tracts and forceps major. Conclusion T 1ρ demonstrates changes related to the processes of normal aging. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;40:376–382 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .