common brain network links development, aging, and vulnerability to disease
Douaud G., Groves AR., Tamnes CK., Westlye LT., Duff EP., Engvig A., Walhovd KB., James A., Gass A., Monsch AU., Matthews PM., Fjell AM., Smith SM., Johansen-Berg H.
Significance Many evolutionary–developmental models have attempted to relate development and aging, with one popular hypothesis proposing that healthy age-related brain decline mirrors developmental maturation. But this elegant hypothesis has so far lacked clear and direct data to support it. Here, we describe intrinsic, entirely data-driven evidence that healthy brain degeneration and developmental process mirror one another in certain brain regions. Specifically, a data-driven decomposition of structural brain images in 484 healthy participants reveals a network of mainly higher-order regions that develop relatively late during adolescence, demonstrate accelerated degeneration in old age, and show heightened vulnerability to disorders that impact on brain structure during adolescence and aging. These results provide a fundamental link between development, aging, and disease processes in the brain.