Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Study Cerebral Hemodynamics in Older Adults During Cognitive and Motor Tasks : A Review
Udina, Cristina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Medicina)
Avtzi, Stella (Institut de Ciències Fotòniques)
Durduran, Turgut (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats)
Holtzer, Roee (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)
Rosso, Andrea L. (University of Pittsburgh)
Castellano-Tejedor, Carmina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Medicina)
Pérez, Laura Mónica (Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron. Institut de Recerca)
Soto-Bagaria, Luis (Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron. Institut de Recerca)
Inzitari, Marco (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Medicina)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	The integrity of the frontal areas of the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex, are critical to preserve cognition and mobility in late life. Prefrontal cortex regions are involved in executive functions and gait control and have been related to the performance of dual-tasks. Dual-task performance assessment may help identify older adults at risk of negative health outcomes. As an alternative to neuroimaging techniques that do not allow assessment during actual motion, functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive technique that can assess neural activation through the measurement of cortical oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin levels, while the person is performing a motor task in a natural environment as well as during cognitive tasks. The aim of this review was to describe the use of fNIRS to study frontal lobe hemodynamics during cognitive, motor and dual-tasks in older adults. From the 46 included publications, 20 studies used only cognitive tasks, three studies used motor tasks and 23 used dual-tasks. Our findings suggest that fNIRS detects changes in frontal activation in older adults (cognitively healthy and mild cognitive impairment), especially while performing cognitive and dual-tasks. In both the comparison between older and younger adults, and in people with different neurological conditions, compared to healthier controls, the prefrontal cortex seems to experience a higher activation, which could be interpreted in the context of proposed neural inefficiency and limited capacity models. Further research is needed to establish standardized fNIRS protocols, study the cerebral hemodynamic in different neurological and systemic conditions that might influence cortical activation and explore its role in predicting incident health outcomes such as dementia.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DTS16/00099
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy ; Gait ; Dual task ; Motor task ; Cognition ; Older adults ; Prefrontal cortex ; Cerebral hemodynamics
Published in:	Frontiers in aging neuroscience, Vol. 11 (january 2020) , ISSN 1663-4365

DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2019.00367
PMID: 32038224

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