Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension
-
Our objective was to investigate the influence of hypertension on N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and choline (Cho) ratios in brain tissues in a community-dwelling elderly population. Brain flexibility was also evaluated with regard to the same metabolite ratios. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and the Trail Making Test (TMT) were performed in 80 subjects (75.7+/-4 years old) from the Three-City Study. ⋯ These statistical results were confirmed by the multivariate analysis. In an elderly population, hypertension leads to a reduction in NAA/Cr ratios in the insula and the thalami, possibly due to a decrease in blood flow through small perforating and cortical arteries. The TMT B-A test appears to be relevant not only for the frontal areas but also for more remote areas such as the thalami, the insula and the deep periventricular white matter.