Dopamine clearance–cognition link varies by age and structure
In 3,650 adults, elevated modeled dopamine clearance was linked to poorer cognition only with marked structural degradation and within sliding age windows centered between 56 and 76 years.
bioRxiv
In 3,650 adults aged 36 to 95 years across five aging cohorts, researchers used a computational model to examine links between dopamine clearance, brain structure and cognition. Their amortized dopaminergic aging model (ADAM) combined structural connectivity maps with fMRI observations to estimate individuals’ dopamine clearance timescales.
Estimated clearance timescales increased with age. Lower cognitive performers exhibited elevated clearance among adults with marked structural degradation, and only within sliding age windows centered between 56 and 76 years. The findings suggest that structural connectivity shapes how dopaminergic modulation relates to brain-wide dynamics. Researchers present ADAM as a framework for studying individual differences in cognitive aging and for future simulated pharmacological trials.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that dopamine’s contribution to cognitive aging depends partly on the structural state of the brain.
Caveats
The findings rely on model-estimated dopamine clearance and associations, not a test of whether changing clearance alters cognition. This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
The paper
Structural integrity moderates the cognitive bearing of dopamine clearance in aging
Show 5 more authors
M. Woodman, S. Caspers, M. Hashemi, S. Petkoski, D. Marinazzo,Institut de Neuroscience des Systèmes, Aix-Marseille University, Inserm, UMR-1106
bioRxiv · 5 Oct 2026 · CC BY · Preprint, not peer-reviewed
