Age ‑ and brain region‑associated alterations of cerebral blood flow in early Alzheimer's disease assessed in AβPPSWE/PS1ΔE9 transgenic mice using arterial spin labeling.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate CBF in four brain regions (the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, frontoparietal cortex and thalamus) of mice in four age groups, to mimic the respective stages of AD in humans [2 months (pre‑clinical), 3.5 months (sub‑clinical), 5 months (early‑clinical) and 8 months (mid‑clinical)], to understand the age‑associated changes in selected brain regions and to elucidate the underlying vascular mechanisms. CBF was measured using magnetic resonance imaging‑arterial spin labelling (ASL) under identical conditions across the age groups of AβPPSWE/PS1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) transgenic mice with AD. The results indicated age‑ and brain region‑associated changes in CBF were associated with early AD. More precisely, an age‑dependent increase in CBF (in the pre‑ and sub‑clinical AD groups) was observed in the frontoparietal cortex and thalamus. Conversely, increased CBF demonstrated an age‑dependent decline (in the early‑ and mid‑clinical AD groups) in all examined brain regions. Among the regions, the thalamus had the greatest increase in CBF in the 2 and 3.5 months age groups, which was substantially different compared with the age‑matched controls. An extension of vessel area was also noted to be age‑ and brain region‑dependent. In particular, correlation analysis revealed significant associations of CBF with vessel area in the frontoparietal cortex and thalamus of APP/PS1 mice at ages 2 and 3.5 months, ind...
Source: Molecular Medicine Reports - Category: Molecular Biology Tags: Mol Med Rep Source Type: research