Hybrid PET/MRI enables high-spatial resolution, quantitative imaging of amyloid plaques in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model

Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 25;10(1):10379. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67284-z.

Abstract

The emergence of PET probes for amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, hallmarks of Alzheimer disease (AD), enables monitoring of pathology in AD mouse models. However, small-animal PET imaging is limited by coarse spatial resolution. We have installed a custom-fabricated PET insert into our small-animal MRI instrument and used PET/MRI hybrid imaging to define regions of amyloid vulnerability in 5xFAD mice. We compared fluorine-18 [18F]-Florbetapir uptake in the 5xFAD brain by dedicated small-animal PET/MRI and PET/CT to validate the quantitative measurement of PET/MRI. Next, we used PET/MRI to define uptake in six brain regions. As expected, uptake was comparable to wild-type in the cerebellum and elevated in the cortex and hippocampus, regions implicated in AD. Interestingly, uptake was highest in the thalamus, a region often overlooked in AD studies. Development of small-animal PET/MRI enables tracking of brain region-specific pathology in mouse models, which may prove invaluable to understanding AD progression and therapeutic development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Fluorine Radioisotopes / metabolism
  • Hippocampus / diagnostic imaging
  • Hippocampus / metabolism
  • Hippocampus / pathology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Plaque, Amyloid / diagnostic imaging
  • Plaque, Amyloid / metabolism
  • Plaque, Amyloid / pathology*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals / metabolism
  • Thalamus / diagnostic imaging
  • Thalamus / metabolism
  • Thalamus / pathology*

Substances

  • Fluorine Radioisotopes
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Fluorine-18