Age‐ and cognition‐related differences in the gray matter volume of the chimpanzee brain ( Pan troglodytes )
A voxel‐based morphometry and conjunction analysis
Bibliographic Data
Several primate species have been shown to exhibit age‐related changes in cognition, brain, and behavior. However, severe neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), were once thought to be uniquely human. Recently, some chimpanzees naturally were documented to develop both neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques, the main characteristics of AD pathology. In addition, like humans and other primates, chimpanzees show similar declines in cognition and motor function with age. Here, we used voxel‐based morphometry to examine the relationships among gray matter volume, age, and cognition using magnetic resonance imaging scans previously acquired from chimpanzees ( N = 216). We first determined the relationship between age and gray matter volume, identifying the regions that declined with age. With a subset of our sample ( N = 103), we also determined differences in gray matter volume between older chimpanzees with higher cognition scores than expected for their age, and older chimpanzees with lower than expected scores. Finally, we ran a conjunction analysis to determine any overlap in brain regions between these two analyses. We found that as chimpanzees age, they lose gray matter in regions associated with cognition. In addition, cognitively healthy older chimpanzees (those performing better for their age) have greater gray matter volume in many brain regions compared with chimpanzees who underperform for their age. Finally, the conjunction analysis revealed that regions of age‐related decline overlap with the regions that differ between cognitively healthy chimpanzees and those who underperform. This study provides further evidence that chimpanzees are an important model for research on the neurobiology of aging. Future studies should investigate the effects of cognitive stimulation on both cognitive performance and brain structure in aging nonhuman primates
Biology · Brain mapping · Brain morphometry · Brain size · Brain Structure and Function · Cognition · Grey matter · Magnetic resonance imaging · Neuroimaging · Primate · Troglodytes · Voxel · Voxel-based morphometry · White matter · Zoology · Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications · Functional Brain Connectivity Studies · Medicine · Neuroscience · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology
Delayed response task performance as a function of age in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)
Predictors of cognitive change in older persons
A global optimisation method for robust affine registration of brain images
Regional Brain Changes in Aging Healthy Adults
Whitepaper
Fast robust automated brain extraction
Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition
One‐year change in cognitive flexibility and fine motor function in middle‐aged male and female marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus )
Age‐related changes in chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) cognition
| Highly cited | No |
|---|