Temporal patterns of longitudinal change in aging brain function

Time-dependent changes in brain activity were assessed in a group of older adults who maintained good physical and cognitive health at years 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging neuroimaging study. Each year, these participants underwent PET scans during rest and delayed verbal and figural recognition memory conditions. While memory performance remained stable over the 8 years, both generalized and modality-specific patterns of time-dependent changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were found. Many brain regions showed steady, progressive changes in rCBF over the 8 years while others maintained rCBF for a number of years before showing incremental declines or increases in activity. These temporal patterns of change were observed in many regions of the brain, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes, suggesting that there are distinctive patterns of age-related functional decline and compensatory activity over time. The precise patterns of regional involvement and the temporal dynamics of rCBF change within specific regions vary based on cognitive processing demands. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.