In-vivo monitoring of disease processes by subsequent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an increasing role in neurobiological research. Currently available MR-sequences and standard contrast agents such as Gadolinium(Gd)-DTPA depict only unspecific...

Read advocacy news from the week of April 15, 2016.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool to perform longitudinal studies while measure brain changes without the sacrifice of the subject. Functional brain activity can be traced combining MRI with chloride manganese (MnCl2) administration (2...

A number of potential therapeutic approaches have been developed for the in vivo clearance of amyloid (Aβ) lesions, which characterize Alzheimer disease (AD). However, currently the definitive diagnosis of AD requires post-mortem examination. We present for the first time, a novel method for the detection of AD amyloid plaques by magnetic resonance micro-imaging(μMRI) using transgenic mouse models of AD. This method utilizes Aβ1-40 peptides which are labeled with either gadolinium (Gd) or monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles (MION). When either of these ligands are injected systemically with mannitol to transiently open the blood-brain barrier, we are able to image the majority of both early preamyloid Aβ deposits and Congo red positive amyloid plaques. A shows detection of amyloid lesions by μMRI, with B showing the corresponding immunohistochemically detected amyloid deposits. This type of approach could be used to make an early definitive diagnosis of AD, as well as allowing for the monitoring of am...

Smart molecular probes for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are expected to provide quantum advances in clinical medicine and biomedical research. We describe such a probe that targets β-amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s disease and is detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because of contrast imparted by gadolinium labeling. Three essential properties are shown to exist in this smart molecular probe, putrescine-gadolinium-amyloid-β peptide: 1) transport across the blood-brain-barrier following intravenous injection which is conferred by the polyamine moiety, 2) binding to plaques with high affinity by the putrescine-labeled amyloid-β peptide, and 3) MRI detectability conferred by the contrast agent, gadolinium. MRI was performed on ex vivo tissue specimens at a spatial resolution approximating plaque size (62.5 μm3), in order to prove the concept that the probe can selectively enhance plaques when administered intravenously. The plaque-to-background tissue contrast-to-noise ratio, that was pr...

Check out these newsworthy studies from the March 8, 2017, issue of JNeurosci. Media interested in obtaining the full text of the studies should contact media@sfn.org.

Introduction: Dramatic growth of the elderly population is now affecting many countries in the world. Success in diagnosis and treatment of age-related brain diseases depends on understanding healthy aging. The amygdala (AG) is a group of nuclei in the ...

Recent advances in ultra-high field (UHF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow investigation of brain functions at submillimeter level using functional MRI (fMRI). Studies in hippocampal subfields and layers of the entorhinal cortex at this scale, for...

Check out these newsworthy studies from the February 8, 2017, issue of JNeurosci. Media interested in obtaining the full text of the studies should contact media@sfn.org.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to image vascular dynamics, for instance, cerebral blood flow (CBF), to study normal brain physiology and pathophysiology with high temporal resolution. A technique to measure CBF established on MRI is dynami...