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27 July 2018 Whole-cortical graphical networks at wakeful rest in young and older adults revealed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy
Lin Li, Olajide Babawale, Amarnath Yennu, Cynthia Trowbridge, Ryan Hulla, Robert J. Gatchel, Hanli Liu
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
A good understanding of age-dependent changes and modifications in brain networks is crucial for fully exploring the effects of aging on the human brain. Few reports have been found in studies of functional brain networks using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Moreover, little is known about the feasibility of using fNIRS to assess age-related changes in brain connectomes. This study applied whole brain fNIRS measurement, combined with graph theory analysis, to assess the age-dependent changes in resting-state brain networks. Five to eight minutes of resting-state brain hemodynamic signals were recorded from 48 participants (18 young adults and 30 older adults) with 133 optical channels covering the majority of the cortical regions. Both local and global graph metrics were computed to identify the age-related changes of topographical brain networks. Older adults showed an overall decline of both global and local efficiency compared to young adults, as well as the decline of small-worldness. In addition, young adults showed the abundance of hubs in the prefrontal cortex, whereas older adults revealed the hub shifts to the sensorimotor cortex. These obvious shifts of hubs may potentially indicate decreases of the decision-making, memory, and other high-order functions as people age. Our results showed consistent findings with published literature and also demonstrated the feasibility of whole-head fNIRS measurements to assess age-dependent changes in resting-state brain networks.
CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Lin Li, Olajide Babawale, Amarnath Yennu, Cynthia Trowbridge, Ryan Hulla, Robert J. Gatchel, and Hanli Liu "Whole-cortical graphical networks at wakeful rest in young and older adults revealed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy," Neurophotonics 5(3), 035004 (27 July 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.5.3.035004
Received: 12 March 2018; Accepted: 2 July 2018; Published: 27 July 2018
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Cited by 15 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Brain

Head

Near infrared spectroscopy

Neurophotonics

Hemodynamics

Positron emission tomography

Sensors

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