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Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Amyloid-β Plaques in a Murine Alzheimer's Disease Model

Abstract

Background: Early detection of amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates is a critical step to improve the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) because neuronal damage by the Aβ aggregates occurs before clinical symptoms are apparent. We have previously shown that luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs), which are highly specific towards protein aggregates of Aβ, can be used to fluorescently label amyloid plaque in living rodents. Objective: We hypothesize that the LCO can be used to target gadolinium to the amyloid plaque and hence make the plaque detectable by T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: A novel LCO-gadolinium construct was synthesized to selectively bind to Aβ plaques and give contrast in conventional T1-weighted MR images after intravenous injection in Tg-APPSwe mice. Results: We found that mice with high plaque-burden could be identified using the LCO-Gd constructs by conventional MRI. Conclusion: Our study shows that MR imaging of amyloid plaques is challenging but feasible, and hence contrast-mediated MR imaging could be a valuable tool for early AD detection.
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Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

  • Einar Sulheim
  • Marius Widerøe
  • Marcus Bäck
  • K Peter R Nilsson
  • Per Hammarström
  • Lars Nilsson
  • Catharina de Lange Davies
  • Andreas Åslund

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Biotechnology and Nanomedicine
  • Linköping University
  • University of Oslo
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Oslo University Hospital

Year

2023

Published in

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

ISSN

1387-2877

Volume

93

Issue

2

Page(s)

411 - 419

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository