Mapping cerebral pulse pressure and arterial compliance over the adult lifespan with optical imaging
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171305
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Summary
This study investigates the relationship between cerebrovascular health, aging, and cognitive function across the adult lifespan using diffuse optical imaging. Motivated by prior evidence that arterial stiffening contributes to cognitive decline and brain atrophy, the authors aimed to replicate and extend previous findings limited to older adults (aged 55–87). The research sought to determine if optical measures of cerebral pulse amplitude (a proxy for pulse pressure) and arterial compliance correlate with age, estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF), brain anatomy, and cognitive performance in a broader age range. Additionally, the study tested the hypothesis that frontoparietal regions, known to be vulnerable to age-related changes, would show stronger associations with working memory and vascular health than other cortical areas. The researchers recruited 48 adults aged 18–75 years, ensuring an even distribution across six age decades. Methodological improvements included a denser optical montage with 1,536 channels (a four-fold increase from prior studies) and longer recording periods of 360 seconds. Data collection involved simultaneous electrocardiogram (EKG) recording to time-lock arterial pulses, structural MRI for anatomical co-registration and volumetric segmentation, and a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing working memory (Operation Span), executive function, and fluid intelligence. eCRF was estimated using a validated equation incorporating demographic and physiological variables. Optical pulse waveforms were extracted from oxy-hemoglobin signals, allowing for the calculation of global and regional indices of pulse amplitude and arterial compliance. The results demonstrated high reliability for both pulse amplitude and compliance measures. Pulse amplitude and pulse pressure correlated positively with age across the entire sample, consistent with age-related arterial stiffening. Arterial compliance correlated negatively with age and positively with eCRF, global brain volume preservation, and cognitive flexibility. Crucially, regional analyses revealed that higher performance on the Operation Span working memory task was associated with greater localized arterial compliance specifically in the frontoparietal cortex, but not with global compliance. Furthermore, higher arterial compliance in frontoparietal regions was linked to younger age and higher eCRF, whereas these associations were absent in the visual cortex. These findings validate the utility of diffuse optical imaging for assessing cerebrovascular health across the adult lifespan. The study confirms that frontoparietal regions are particularly susceptible to vascular degeneration during aging, with direct functional consequences for working memory. By demonstrating that regional vascular health metrics predict cognitive performance more specifically than global measures, the research highlights the importance of localized cerebrovascular assessment. This approach offers a non-invasive tool for monitoring arterial health and its impact on cognition, potentially aiding in the early identification of vascular risk factors for cognitive decline.
Key finding
Greater arterial compliance in the frontoparietal cortex is associated with younger age, higher cardiorespiratory fitness, and better working memory performance, indicating that these regions are especially vulnerable to vascular degeneration during brain aging.
Methodology
lab_experiment
Sample size: 47
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-28.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-28 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
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| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-28 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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