Contribution of vestibular dysfunction and its central multisensory integration to imbalance in aging

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R01AG075532
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$1,787,414

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.866 Aging Research
Completion date 45% complete
Place of performance
Boston, MA 02114, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
The primary contributors to age-related imbalance remain poorly understood because nearly all contributors to balance deteriorate with age, including sensory inputs, central processing, motor outputs, biomechanics, cardiovascular function, and cognition. This proposal examines the contributions of age-related sensory dysfunction and changes in central sensory processing to imbalance and falls. While vestibular, visual, and somatosensory contributions to imbalance will be broadly studied, vestibular (head motion and orientation cues) contributions are emphasized because these potentially important mechanisms have often been overlooked. This topic is timely because new therapeutics (vestibular prosthetics, hair cell regeneration, non- invasive brain stimulation) are moving into clinical trials, so knowledge resulting from our project will provide a foundation for the long-term goal of mitigating fall risk by assigning patients to targeted interventions. While this project is focused on understanding imbalance in older adults, IT will also advance knowledge about the general neural principles underlying balance. Two specific aims will be studied: aim 1) investigate the contributions of vestibular, somatosensory, and visual dysfunction to imbalance in older adults and those with a history of falls; and aim 2) investigate how standing balance is impacted by deficits in central sensory processing and closed-loop control in older adults. To investigate these aims, a large cohort of older adults, including those with a history of falls associated with loss of balance, will be studied using several synergistic methods, including sensory (vestibular, visual, somatosensory) and non-sensory (muscle strength, cardiac and cognitive function) assays and quantitative measures of posture, gait, and falls. A sensitive threshold test will be used to quantify each individual's sensory function on a continuum (rather than a binary classification) and can be applied across sensory modalities using consistent physical units, offering a major advantage over other experimental approaches. Deficits in central sensory integration will be studied using closed-loop computational models applied to experimental data. A template for the effects of vestibular damage on imbalance will be developed by testing young adults with peripheral vestibular damage who are otherwise healthy, allowing imbalance to be partitioned into that arising from vestibular dysfunction VS. Other non- vestibular age-related sensory decline. The proposed research is innovative, in the applicant's opinion, because IT: 1) determines how imbalance depends on the continuum of vestibular, visual and somatosensory function - a personalized, holistic understanding of imbalance; 2) develops strategies to study dysfunction in central sensory integration that will determine if the brain is correctly weighting sensory information based on the quality of each sensory CUE; and 3) advances a theoretical framework in which sensory measures and imbalance are related to neural noise/variability. These studies will help elucidate how sensory dysfunction and central integration contribute to imbalance in older adults, toward the long-term goal of mitigating fall risk.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $581,711
Amendment $573,369
Amendment $0
Original award $632,334

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
Westmont College Dr. Goodworth will contribute to both Aims. He will develop and test closed loop models of balance, support the development of posture testing and perturbed… $131,894
Brigham & Womens Hospital Inc. During year one, Dr. Wang will work closely with the PI at Massachusetts Eye and Ear on the design of research experiments and outline statistical analysis plan… $109,253
Hebrew Rehabilitation Center During year 1, Drs. Manor and Lipsitz, together with their experienced team, will contribute to this study on the vestibular contributions to balance in older… $216,100

Quick answers

Who received award R01AG075532?

R01AG075532 was awarded to Massachusetts Eye And Ear Infirmary by National Institute on Aging (National Institutes of Health) on September 1, 2024.

How much is award R01AG075532 worth?

$1,787,414 has been obligated on R01AG075532.

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