Reduced Age-Related Gray Matter Loss in the Orbitofrontal Cortex in Long-Term Meditators.

ABSTRACT: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a functionally heterogeneous brain region contributing to mental processes relating to meditation practices. The OFC has been reported to decline in volume with increasing age and differs in volume between meditation practitioners and non-practitioners. We hypothesized that the age-related decline of the OFC is diminished in meditation practitioners. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 50 long-term meditators and 50 matched controls by correlating chronological age with regional gray matter volumes of the left and right OFC, as well as in seven left and right cytoarchitectonically defined subregions of the OFC (Fo1-Fo7). In both meditators and controls, we observed a negative relationship between age and OFC (sub)volumes, indicating that older partici

SUBMITTER: Kurth F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10741700 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature