USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Qinyang Shou
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Kimberly Felix
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Brandon Ojogho
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Xuejuan Jiang
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States; Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Brian T Gold
Department of Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Frankfort, United States
Megan M Herting
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Eric L Goldwaser
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States; Interventional Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, United States
Peter Kochunov
Louis A. Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, United States
Elliot Hong
Louis A. Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, United States
Ioannis Pappas
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Meredith Braskie
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Hosung Kim
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Steven Cen
Department of Radiology and Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
Kay Jann
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States; Department of Radiology and Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) plays a pivotal role in protecting the central nervous system (CNS), and shielding it from potential harmful entities. A natural decline of BBB function with aging has been reported in both animal and human studies, which may contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders. Limited data also suggest that being female may be associated with protective effects on BBB function. Here, we investigated age and sex-dependent trajectories of perfusion and BBB water exchange rate (kw) across the lifespan in 186 cognitively normal participants spanning the ages of 8–92 years old, using a non-invasive diffusion-prepared pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (DP-pCASL) MRI technique. We found that the pattern of BBB kw decline with aging varies across brain regions. Moreover, results from our DP-pCASL technique revealed a remarkable decline in BBB kw beginning in the early 60 s, which was more pronounced in males. In addition, we observed sex differences in parietal and temporal regions. Our findings provide in vivo results demonstrating sex differences in the decline of BBB function with aging, which may serve as a foundation for future investigations into perfusion and BBB function in neurodegenerative and other brain disorders.
