Age-related reduction in hippocampal volumes on episodic memory decline: a MRI study

The hippocampus (HC), structure in the medial temporal lobe, is a unique brain region involved in a number of functions - spatial and temporal orientation, stress and emotion regulation, learning and memory, to name but a few. In recent years, development in neuroimaging allows considerable researchers to delve human brain's structures and functions in vivo, hippocampus in particular. Currently, our society is aging and its longevity is associated with a number of diseases, particularly linked to neurodegeneration. A significant number of aged individuals decline cognitively - memory loss is highly prevalent and affects life quality of patients and their loved ones. The hippocampus is a particularly interesting structure in the context of aging and cognitive decline. Despite an overwhelming number of studies about ageing and hippocampus, the precise processes underlying cognitive decline are still not well understood. The question about the link between ageing and cognitive impairment is crucial in order to understand influences of ageing. In sum, the aim of this study was to assess the contribution of age-related HC structural change in cognitive decline in a cross-sectional MRI study: the relationship between episodic memory loss and the HC volume in old age. We assessed at first, the association between the whole hippocampal structural changes along the aging and the episodic memory decline. It is well known that HC volume is negatively correlated with age and that the cognitive impairment appears also in the normal ageing. What is the connection between these factors? What degree atrophy could be linked with normal ageing, as well as cognitive decline? Dose the cognitive decline reflect an underlying neuropathological change or a preclinical or undetected disease? The first purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between age, hippocampal volumes and cognitive performance