Construction of a magnetic resonance neuroimaging database of a healthy adult Argentinean population to contribute to local reference values

VALLEJO AZAR, MARIANA NAHIR; KOCHEN, SILVIA; ALBA FERRARA, LUCÍA; DALMASSO, MARÍA CAROLINA; ELIZALDE, BAUTISTA; PRINCICH, JUAN PABLO; SOLIS, PATRICIA; VILLELLA, IVANA; BENDERSKY, MARIANA; GONZALEZ, PAULA NATALIA

Simposio; Simposio LATBrain 2022; 2022

The advent of neuroimaging has contributed substantially to the knowledge, prognosis and diagnosis of different neurological diseases by allowing the study of large datasets from healthy population and with pathologies. The neuroimaging databases generated are constituted principally of subjects from the WEIRD countries, while other regions such as Latin-America are underrepresented. In this sense, the need to incorporate samples from populations with different genetic and socio-environmental characteristics has been pointed out, especially considering the differences in disease prevalence and recovery rates between diverse demographic groups. In 2016 we initiated the building of an MRI database of adult population of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (Argentina). This region has a genetic profile characterized by interbreeding with the native indigenous people. Also, this population show characteristics that distinguish it from developed countries, such as limited coverage of urban services, socioeconomic vulnerability, and low schooling, among others. The exclusion criterion for sample selection is the presence of neurological diseases or cranioencephalic trauma. The images are obtained in two 3T scanners at the SAMIC El Cruce Hospital and the Angel Roffo Institute. The following sequences are acquired: a) T1, b) diffusion tensor imaging (DWI), c) FLAIR and d) resting state. In addition, the following data is obtained: socio-environmental information, personal and family health history, geographic origin, upper and lower limb dominance, and neurocognitive assessments from volunteers over 50 years old. Finally, genetic information is collected lately to determine the ancestry of each volunteer. To date, 195 individuals of both sexes (F: 122, M: 71), ranging in age from 18 to 85 years old (mean: 40.36 +/- 16.98), have been sampled. The information collected constitutes a reference for ongoing epilepsy and Alzheimer´s studies, and its open access availability to the scientific community will contribute to future biomedical research in these and other neurological diseases.