Normal aging is associated with functional and structural alterations in the human brain. The effects of normal aging and gender on morphological changes in specific regions of the brain are unknown. The fractal dimension (FD) can be a quantitative measure of cerebral folding. In this study, we used 3D-FD analysis with the Desikan–Killiany (DK) atlas to assess subregional morphological changes in adulthood. A total of 258 participants (112 women and 146 men) aged 30–85 years participated in this study. Participants in the middle-age group exhibited a decreased FD in the lateral frontal lobes, which then spread to the temporal and parietal lobes. Men exhibited an earlier and more significant decrease in FD values, mainly in the right frontal and left parietal lobes. Men exhibited more of a decrease in FD values in the subregions on the left than those in the right, whereas women exhibited more of a decrease in the lateral subregions. Older men were at a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and exhibited age-related memory decline earlier than women. Our FD analysis using the DK atlas-based prediagnosis may provide a suitable tool for assessing normal aging and neurodegeneration between groups or in individual patients.

中文翻译：

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使用分形维数分析和Desikan-Killiany图集评估正常衰老对成年人次区域皮层变化的影响

正常衰老与人脑的功能和结构改变有关。正常衰老和性别对大脑特定区域形态变化的影响尚不清楚。分形维数（FD）可以作为大脑折叠的定量度量。在这项研究中，我们将3D-FD分析与Desikan–Killiany（DK）地图集一起使用，以评估成年地区的次区域形态变化。共有258位参与者（112位女性和146位男性）年龄在30-85岁之间参加了这项研究。中年组的参与者在额额外侧叶中的FD降低，然后扩散到颞叶和顶叶。男性的FD值下降较早且更为显着，主要在右额叶和左顶叶中。与左侧的次区域相比，男性在左侧次区域的FD值下降更多，而女性在侧部次区域的FD值下降更多。老年男性比女性更容易出现轻度认知障碍（MCI），并且表现出与年龄有关的记忆力下降。我们使用基于DK图集的预诊断进行的FD分析可能为评估各组之间或个别患者的正常衰老和神经退行性病变提供了合适的工具。