PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Khader M. Hasan AU - Indika S. Walimuni AU - Humaira Abid AU - Richard E. Frye AU - Linda Ewing-Cobbs AU - Jerry S. Wolinsky AU - Ponnada A. Narayana TI - Multimodal Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Thalamic Development and Aging across the Human Lifespan: Implications to Neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4184-11.2011 DP - 2011 Nov 16 TA - The Journal of Neuroscience PG - 16826--16832 VI - 31 IP - 46 4099 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/46/16826.short 4100 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/46/16826.full SO - J. Neurosci.2011 Nov 16; 31 AB - The human brain thalami play essential roles in integrating cognitive, sensory, and motor functions. In multiple sclerosis (MS), quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) measurements of the thalami provide important biomarkers of disease progression, but late development and aging confound the interpretation of data collected from patients over a wide age range. Thalamic tissue volume loss due to natural aging and its interplay with lesion-driven pathology has not been investigated previously. In this work, we used standardized thalamic volumetry combined with diffusion tensor imaging, T2 relaxometry, and lesion mapping on large cohorts of controls (N = 255, age range = 6.2–69.1 years) and MS patients (N = 109, age range = 20.8–68.5 years) to demonstrate early age- and lesion-independent thalamic neurodegeneration.