Reorganization of Functional Connectivity between White and Grey Matters during Normal Aging

Resting state BOLD signals in white matter (WM) bundles have been found to be partially synchronized with signals in gray matter (GM) volumes, suggesting WM-GM functional connectivity (FC). However, little is known about whether or how these relationships change during normal aging, and traditional graph models are inappropriate. We introduced a novel graph model and applied it to assess WM-GM network properties in 1,462 healthy subjects (22–96years) and their age effects. Results show heterogenous alterations in WM-GM rsFC over adulthood with decreases mainly during late adulthood. Our results demonstrate there is substantial reorganization of WM-GM correlations during normal aging.