Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States; McKnight Brain Research Foundation, University of Florida, United States, United States; Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, United States; Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
Brent Foster
Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States; McKnight Brain Research Foundation, University of Florida, United States, United States; Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
Richard AE Edden
Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States; F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, United States
Nicolaas AJ Puts
Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States; F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, United States; Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain and can be measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Conflicting accounts report decreases and increases in cortical GABA levels across the lifespan. This incompatibility may be an artifact of the size and age range of the samples utilized in these studies. No single study to date has included the entire lifespan. In this study, eight suitable datasets were integrated to generate a model of the trajectory of frontal GABA estimates (as reported through edited MRS; both expressed as ratios and in institutional units) across the lifespan. Data were fit using both a log-normal curve and a nonparametric spline as regression models using a multi-level Bayesian model utilizing the Stan language. Integrated data show that an asymmetric lifespan trajectory of frontal GABA measures involves an early period of increase, followed by a period of stability during early adulthood, with a gradual decrease during adulthood and aging that is described well by both spline and log-normal models. The information gained will provide a general framework to inform expectations of future studies based on the age of the population being studied.
