Shrinking Matter

No, not the latest design in bicycle helmets; rather these are brain images taken from a study researching the ageing process. The brain consists of two distinct regions: grey matter, containing the operational centres of brain cells; and white matter – the long nerve fibres that extend into the body. We already know that grey matter shrinks as we get older but what happens to the white matter? To find out researchers scanned the brains of around 350 adults with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and used computer software to merge the images. From this they created a composite 3D map that shows the typical location of white and grey matter. In the picture the distribution of white matter is highlighted in green while the regions that are smaller in the elderly are shown in red. So some, but not all, of the white matter shrinks with age.

Written by Julie Webb

Julie Webb

Writer

Julie began her career as a researcher in genetics. In 2000 she won a Wellcome Trust award for her work on a collaborative science drama, staged at the Edinburgh Festival. She now works as a freelance science writer and communicator.

• Image by Irmhild Altmann-Schneider and colleagues
• Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS One, March 2015