One of the important factors of cognitive-safe aging is integrity of the corpus callosum pathways; that integrity can be evaluated through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Higher integrity of the corpus callosum partly guarantees higher cognitive and intellectual abilities in old age. Simultaneously, genetic predisposition exists and it can be diagnosed. For example, it is known that inherited alleles of two functional polymorphisms of beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) gene were linked to higher cognitive ability in 70-year-old patients. Moreover, allele of beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) gene having single nucleotide polymorphism seemed to correlate with higher safety of the corpus callosum pathways and, consequently, with safer aging. Thus, unity of the information that characterize human genetic parameters, and data obtained during diagnostics of neural pathways can be used as preventive measures which ensure cognitive-safe aging.
Place of employment — University of Edinburgh, Great Britain.
Contacts — 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, Scotland, UK +44 (0) 131 650-3452i.deary@ed.ac.uk .
Publications — Genetic foundations of human intelligence. Deary IJ, Johnson W, Houlihan LM. Hum Genet. 2009 Jul;126(1):215–32. White Matter Integrity in the Splenium of the Corpus Callosum is Related to Successful Cognitive Aging and Partly Mediates the Protective Effect of an Ancestral Polymorphism in ADRB2. Penke L, Maniega SM, Houlihan LM, Murray C, Gow AJ, Clayden JD, Bastin ME, Wardlaw JM, Deary IJ. Behav Genet. 2010 Some guidelines for structural equation modelling in cognitive neuroscience: The case of Charlton et al.'s study on white matter integrity and cognitive ageing. Penke L, Deary IJ. Neurobiol Aging. 2010.
