Table 1.

Summary: Nervous system tissue level determinants of region-specific vulnerability.

Archetypal neurodegenerative disease-associated region	Nervous system tissue level mechanisms of regional ageing/susceptibility to neurodegenerative disease	Key references
Hippocampus	One of the steepest age-related volumetric declines between 60−90 years	Fjell et al., 2013
	Relatively higher regional rate of age-related grey matter volumetric decline	Jernigan et al., 2001
	White matter fibres in the fornix are susceptible to ageing	Zahr et al., 2009
	Cortical thinning but preserved cerebral blood flow	Chen et al., 2011
	Ageing/presence of subcortical lacunes increases hippocampal atrophy rate	Du et al., 2006
	Age-related vessel length reduction in the hippocampus	Schager and Brown, 2020
Substantia Nigra	No significant age-related grey matter volumetric change	Jernigan et al., 2001
	SN pars reticulata showed an age-associated trend reduction in vessel length and particularly frequent vessel sparse zones	Schager and Brown, 2020
Spinal Cord	Number of central arteries reduced on ageing, with increased vessel tortuosity	Qiu and Zhu, 2004
	Higher capillary density in the ventral spinal cord may render this region susceptible