Dissertation

Monitoring Alzheimer's disease in transgenic mice with ultra high field magnetic resonance imaging

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot, Co-Promotor: A. Alia

Author: F. Kara
Date: 03 December 2013
Links: Thesis in Leiden Repository

While aging remains one of the most significant risk factors for development of Alzheimer disease (AD), increasing evidence strongly points to the potential roles of cerebrovascular and white matter abnormalities in the disease development. A better understanding of the manner in which these abnormalities contribute to disease progression can be achieved by in vivo characterization of AD related pathologies. To this end, MR based techniques serve as effective non-invasive tools to longitudinally monitor changes in AD brain. In this thesis, a variety of MR based techniques were optimized and employed to longitudinally monitor the AD progression in transgenic mouse models of the disease at 9.4T and 17.6T. In Chapter 2, age-dependent blood flow alterations were examined in a Tg2576 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease using MR angiography at 17.6T. AD is linked to abnormalities in the vascular system. In Chapter 3, in vivo T2 changes were longitudinally monitored in the corpus callosum, of the Tg2576 mice. In Chapter 4, age-dependent regional brain T1 and T2 changes in healty mice were established at 17.6T. In vivo imaging of these mouse models at ultra-high magnetic field strengths can permit a better understanding of the underlying cellular mechanism of AD.