Spindler, Melanie;
Palombo, Marco;
Zhang, Hui;
Thiel, Christiane M;
(2023)
Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis and its influence on aging: the role of the hypothalamus.
Scientific Reports
, 13
, Article 6866. 10.1038/s41598-023-33922-5.
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Abstract
As part of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, the hypothalamus exerts pivotal influence on metabolic and endocrine homeostasis. With age, these processes are subject to considerable change, resulting in increased prevalence of physical disability and cardiac disorders. Yet, research on the aging human hypothalamus is lacking. To assess detailed hypothalamic microstructure in middle adulthood, 39 healthy participants (35-65 years) underwent comprehensive structural magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, we studied HPA axis dysfunction proxied by hair cortisol and waist circumference as potential risk factors for hypothalamic alterations. We provide first evidence of regionally different hypothalamic microstructure, with age effects in its anterior-superior subunit, a critical area for HPA axis regulation. Further, we report that waist circumference was related to increased free water and decreased iron content in this region. In age, hair cortisol was additionally associated with free water content, such that older participants with higher cortisol levels were more vulnerable to free water content increase than younger participants. Overall, our results suggest no general age-related decline in hypothalamic microstructure. Instead, older individuals could be more susceptible to risk factors of hypothalamic decline especially in the anterior-superior subregion, including HPA axis dysfunction, indicating the importance of endocrine and stress management in age.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis and its influence on aging: the role of the hypothalamus |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-023-33922-5 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33922-5 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Humans, Adult, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Hydrocortisone, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Hypothalamus, Aging, Water |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10169732 |
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