Normative age-trajectories of higher-order diffusion properties of major brain metabolites in cerebral and cerebellar gray matter using dMRS

Motivation: Healthy brain aging involves intricate changes in both brain structure and function, including alterations in cellular composition and microstructure across various regions. We focus on microstructural changes by studying normative age-trajectories in cerebral and cerebellar gray matter in human brain. Goal(s): Investigating microstructural changes in cerebral and cerebellar gray matter in human brain and provide benchmarks for the normative age-trajectories of higher-order metabolite diffusion properties. Approach: Using DW-MRS and diffusion modelling for characterizing microstructural changes Results: Our findings provide benchmarks for identifying anomalies in the diffusion properties of major brain metabolites, stemming from pathological mechanisms altering both the brain microstructure and cellular compositionImpact: This work investigates microstructural changes with aging in gray matter cerebral and cerebellar cortex in human brain DW-MRS. Moreover, it offers the first normative age-trajectories of metabolite diffusion characteristics, setting benchmark for detection and characterization of microstructural anomalies.