Lower Myelin Content Is Associated With Lower Gait Speed in Cognitively Unimpaired Adults.

ABSTRACT: Mounting evidence indicates that abnormal gait speed predicts the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Understanding the relationship between white matter integrity, especially myelination, and motor function is crucial to the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. We recruited 118 cognitively unimpaired adults across an extended age range of 22-94 years to examine associations between rapid or usual gait speeds and cerebral myelin content. Using our advanced multicomponent magnetic resonance relaxometry method, we measured myelin water fraction (MWF), a direct measure of myelin content, as well as longitudinal and transverse relaxation rates (R1 and R2), sensitive but nonspecific magnetic resonance imaging measures of myelin content. Af

SUBMITTER: Faulkner ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10395567 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature