Age-related Changes in Myelin and Myelin Water Quantified With Short-TR Adiabatic Inversion-Recovery (STAIR) Sequences

Motivation: Myelin proton fraction (MPF) and myelin water fraction (MWF) measured with short-TR adiabatic inversion-recovery (STAIR) sequences are potential biomarkers of neurodegeneration, but the effects of aging on MPF/MWF remain unknown. Goal(s): We aim to measure correlations between age and MPF/MWF with the 3D STAIR ultrashort echo time (STAIR-UTE) and STAIR short echo time (STAIR-STE) sequences, respectively. Approach: 14 young and 11 old volunteers were scanned with 3D STAIR-UTE and STAIR-STE sequences for MPF and MWF mapping on a 3T scanner. Results: Young group MPF/MWF values were significantly higher than the old group's. Altogether, the 25 volunteers display negative correlations of MPF/MWF with age. Impact: Negative correlations with age were demonstrated for two myelin imaging biomarkers, MPF and MWF, which may help understand the mechanism of these myelin imaging biomarkers for assessing normal aging and neuroinflammatory/neurodegenerative diseases.