ArticleFrontiers in neuroimaging2023
Structural and functional characterization of the locus coeruleus in young and late middle-aged individuals.
Article in Frontiers in neuroimaging, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sex differences in neuromodulatory subcortical systems and their implications for Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Electroencephalography, pupillometry, and behavioral evidence for locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system related tonic hyperactivity in older adults.Neurobiology of aging · 2026Article
- The quest for the best: manual, atlas- and spatial prior-based delineation of locus coeruleus.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2026Article
- Arousal increases locus coeruleus blood flow, salience-related brain responses, and modulates negative-valence attentional biases.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Electroencephalography, pupillometry, and behavioral evidence for locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system related tonic hyperactivity in older adults.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The Crosstalk Between the Anterior Hypothalamus and the Locus Coeruleus During Wakefulness Is Associated with Low-Frequency Oscillations Power During Sleep.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
- Automated Locus Coeruleus segmentation and age-related signal changes across Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI and T1/T2-weighted images.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Age-Related Increase in Locus Ceruleus Activity and Connectivity with the Prefrontal Cortex during Ambiguity Processing.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- REM sleep quality is associated with balanced tonic activity of the locus coeruleus during wakefulness.Journal of biomedical science · 2025Article
- A review of symptom, pathogenesis and treatment characteristics of the elderly with chronic insomnia.Medicine · 2025Review
- Locus coeruleus features are linked to vagus nerve stimulation response in drug-resistant epilepsy.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Exploring the Role of Locus Coeruleus in Alzheimer's Disease: a Comprehensive Update on MRI Studies and Implications.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2023Review
- Locus coeruleus activity while awake is associated with REM sleep quality in older individuals.JCI insight · 2023Article
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17 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: The brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) influences a broad range of brain processes, including cognition. The so-called LC contrast is an accepted marker of the integrity of the LC that consists of a local hyperintensity on specific Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) structural images. The small size of the LC has, however, rendered its functional characterization difficult in humans, including in aging. A full characterization of the structural and functional characteristics of the LC in healthy young and late middle-aged individuals is needed to determine the potential roles of the LC in different medical conditions. Here, we wanted to determine whether the activation of the LC in a mismatch negativity task changes in aging and whether the LC functional response was associated to the LC contrast. Methods: We used Ultra-High Field (UHF) 7-Tesla functional MRI (fMRI) to record brain response during an auditory oddball task in 53 healthy volunteers, including 34 younger (age: 22.15y ± 3.27; 29 women) and 19 late middle-aged (age: 61.05y ± 5.3; 14 women) individuals. Results: Whole-brain analyses confirmed brain responses in the typical cortical and subcortical regions previously associated with mismatch negativity. When focusing on the brainstem, we found a significant response in the rostral part of the LC probability mask generated based on individual LC images. Although bilateral, the activation was more extensive in the left LC. Individual LC activity was not significantly different between young and late middle-aged individuals. Importantly, while the LC contrast was higher in older individuals, the functional response of the LC was not significantly associated with its contrast. Discussion: These findings may suggest that the age-related alterations of the LC structural integrity may not be related to changes in its functional response. The results further suggest that LC responses may remain stable in healthy individuals aged 20 to 70.
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