Current Medical Imaging - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in research on Alzheimer's disease (AD). This includes studies in both transgenic mouse models as well as in humans. In this special hot topic issue in CMIR we aim to give an overview on “Prospects of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Alzheimer's Disease”. This issue has been classified into three main sections based on the type of MRI methods exploited in the field of A Read More

A major objective in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease is amyloid plaque reduction. Transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease provide a controlled and consistent environment for studying amyloid plaque deposition in Alzheimer's disease. Magnetic resonance imaging is an attractive tool for longitudinal studies because it offers noninvasive monitoring of amyloid plaques. Recent studies have demonstrated the ability of Read More

Overaccumulation of β-amyloid in the brain is believed to be a primary event in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This amyloid is the target of drugs currently under development for the treatment of AD, which makes imaging amyloid plaques essential. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the resolution required to resolve these microscopic lesions (∼ 50 μm). In the absence of any contrast agent, the sour Read More

Axonal transport perturbations are known to play a critical role in the pathological progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD); and Manganese-Enhanced MRI (MEMRI) provides a unique, non-invasive tool allowing for the in vivo evaluation of transport deficits in preclinical studies. In this paper, we provide a brief history of MEMRI, and review the current literature describing its biological basis. We propose a model of how Read More

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides information on tissue microstructure that is different from conventional T1 and T2-weighted MRI. Although, the value of DTI is likely to be greatest for assessing white matter degeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD), cross-sectional DTI studies consistently show increased diffusivity in gray matter regions that are typically involved with the neurodegenerative pathology in AD such as the med Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive disease usually accompanied by regional atrophy that can be detected noninvasively using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An abundant literature has demonstrated the value of quantitative measurements of regional atrophy in AD, suggesting that MR based volumetry and morphometry could be valuable and useful in clinical practice. The aim of this paper is mainly t Read More

Transverse relaxation time T2 and magnetization transfer ratio MTR are examples of two magnetic resonance imaging parameters that allow for a sensitive characterization of microscopic tissue properties in the brain. Classically, the mean values of these parameters are assessed in a region-of-interest and compared groupwise. In contrast to this, modern voxel-based methods test for localized changes in imaging parameters Read More

Vascular abnormalities commonly coexist with the histological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Deposition of amyloid-β peptide in cerebral vessel walls, known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy, is very frequent, but it is unclear whether CAA is triggering AD or is contributing to later phases in pathology. In this paper, the use of MRI to detect cerebrovascular changes in murine models of AD and in patients is addressed. As re Read More

Although nuclear medicine imaging methods such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) were the first to show a distinctive pattern of hypometabolism and hypoperfusion in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), large-scale application of these methods is hampered by invasiveness, high costs, low spatial resolution and availability. Recent findings that hemod Read More

The development of an accurate marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) at the earliest stage is an important public health goal. Modern neuroimaging techniques offer one potential approach to identify a marker for AD. This review focuses on the detection of alterations in brain perfusion as a potentially sensitive index of AD pathology using arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion mapping - a relatively new variant of magnetic res Read More

In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a powerful tool which can be applied non-invasively to monitor disease progression at a molecular level in the brain of human patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and transgenic mouse models of AD. Application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in transgenic mouse models of AD makes it possible to follow metabolic changes and struc Read More

With the global prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease expected to double in the next twenty years, the importance of early diagnosis and biomarkers for disease progression has never been more important. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is becoming an increasingly important tool for measuring pathology, disease progression, and drug treatment effects. 2D and 3D Chemical Shift Imaging (CSI) is a burgeoning techniq Read More