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dysfunction, lipid metabolism and in- 4.3.7 Neuroimaging Studies
flammation: Adiponectin/Acrp30, P-Se-
lectin, ICAM-1, IL-6, MMP-9, Serpin E1/ Knowing the morphological variations
PAI-1, TNF-alpha, VCAM-1, CCL2/MCP-1, occurring in brain structure throu-
IL-1 beta, CXCL8/IL-8, E-Selectin, MMP- ghout life is essential to assess the co-
3, and CRP. The usefulness of these rresponding pathological changes that
biomarkers is complementary with the occur in neurodegenerative diseases.
information derived from the study of In this context, neuroimaging tech-
genetic risk markers already mentio- niques such as magnetic resonance
ned and can define risk factors already imaging (MRI) have led to significant
revealed in previous studies. progress in understanding brain chan-
ges associated with age.
Samples collected and processed to
date are summarized in the table be- MRI is a noninvasive tool that allows
low: the study of normal aging individuals
at different moments of his life. Howe-
ver, conventional MRI techniques are
EVALUATION Total unable to detect and quantify age-de-
pendent microstructural changes who
1st Visit 1169
have been described in post-mortem
2nd Visit 767 studies of brain tissue. Accordingly,
the project aims to conduct a series of
3rd Visit 755
studies based on various MRI modern
4th Visit 699 techniques that can provide volume-
tric quantitative indexes of the mor-
5th Visit 663
phological changes.
6th Visit 447
In this regard VBM (voxel-based mor-
7th Visit 327 phometry techniques), based on crea-

8th Visit 164 ting statistical comparisons of gray and
white matter patterns are the method
9th Visit 2 of choice in research. The discrimina-

TOTAL 4993 tory power of volumetry in degenera-
tive pathologies such as Alzheimer's
disease (volumetric reduction in amyg-
dala, hippocampus, entorhinal cortex,
etc.) decreases if age-dependent mor-
phological changes are not well esta-
blished in control samples, so that it
is critical to have large, well quantified