Figure 2.

There is significant variation in brain atrophy with advancing age, such that some older adults show little atrophy whereas others show considerable atrophy. In this array of nine brains, we demonstrate that some of the variation can be easily detected by the naked eye. (A) Brain images from young subjects at an average age of 22 years. (B) Brain images from older adult subjects at an average age of 72 years. (C) Brain images from older adult subjects at an average age of 72 years. The average age of (B) and (C) are identical yet the morphology and amount of atrophy are quite disparate between these subjects. For example, the ventricles and sulci are enlarged in (B) compared with (C) or (A). These data showing differential trajectories of brain atrophy support the idea that brain decay might be slowed or prevented.