» Articles » PMID: 21051106

Microglial Activation in Healthy Aging

Abstract

Healthy brain aging is characterized by neuronal loss and decline of cognitive function. Neuronal loss is closely associated with microglial activation and postmortem studies have indeed suggested that activated microglia may be present in the aging brain. Microglial activation can be quantified in vivo using (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 and positron emission tomography. The purpose of this study was to measure specific binding of (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 in healthy subjects over a wide age range. Thirty-five healthy subjects (age range 19-79 years) were included. In all subjects 60-minute dynamic (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 scans were acquired. Specific binding of (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 was calculated using receptor parametric mapping in combination with supervised cluster analysis to extract the reference tissue input function. Increased binding of (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 with aging was found in frontal lobe, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, medial inferior temporal lobe, insula, hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, thalamus, parietal and occipital lobes, and cerebellum. This indicates that activated microglia appear in several cortical and subcortical areas during healthy aging, suggesting widespread neuronal loss.

Citing Articles

Antiageing strategy for neurodegenerative diseases: from mechanisms to clinical advances.

Jiang Q, Liu J, Huang S, Wang X, Chen X, Liu G Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2025; 10(1):76.

PMID: 40059211 PMC: 11891338. DOI: 10.1038/s41392-025-02145-7.


Regulation of lipid dysmetabolism and neuroinflammation linked with Alzheimer's disease through modulation of Dgat2.

Yadav A, Ouyang X, Barkley M, Watson J, Madamanchi K, Kramer J bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 40027815 PMC: 11870505. DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.18.638929.


Should We Consider Neurodegeneration by Itself or in a Triangulation with Neuroinflammation and Demyelination? The Example of Multiple Sclerosis and Beyond.

Perdaens O, van Pesch V Int J Mol Sci. 2024; 25(23.

PMID: 39684351 PMC: 11641818. DOI: 10.3390/ijms252312637.


Multimodal brain age prediction using machine learning: combining structural MRI and 5-HT2AR PET-derived features.

Dorfel R, Arenas-Gomez J, Svarer C, Ganz M, Knudsen G, Svensson J Geroscience. 2024; 46(5):4123-4133.

PMID: 38668887 PMC: 11335712. DOI: 10.1007/s11357-024-01148-6.


Differences in neuroinflammation in people who started antiretroviral treatment during primary versus chronic HIV infection: an 18kDa Translocator protein (TSPO) positron emission tomography (PET) study.

Alagaratnam J, Thornhill J, Fan Z, Vera J, Underwood J, Hall R J Neurovirol. 2024; 30(2):165-175.

PMID: 38575831 PMC: 11371857. DOI: 10.1007/s13365-024-01200-3.