Abstract
Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurological condition affecting industrialized nations and will rapidly become a healthcare crisis as the population ages. Currently, the post-mortem histological observation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles is the only definitive diagnosis available for AD. A pre-mortem biological or physiological marker specific for AD used in conjunction with current neurological and memory testing could add a great deal of confidence to the diagnosis of AD and potentially allow therapeutic intervention much earlier in the disease process. Discussion and conclusion: Our group has developed MRI techniques to detect individual amyloid plaques in AD transgenic mouse brain in vivo. We are also developing contrast-enhancing agents to increase the specificity of detection of amyloid plaques. Such in vivo imaging of amyloid plaques will also allow the evaluation of anti-amyloid therapies being developed by the pharmaceutical industry in pre-clinical trials of AD transgenic mice. This short review briefly discusses our progress in these areas.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | S82-S88 |
Journal | European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | SUPPL. 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2008 |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Amyloid-β
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Plaque
- Transgenic mouse
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging