Abstract #3272

DW-pCASL measure of BBB water permeability is sensitive to pharmacological manipulation of AQP4 function

Hsiao-Ying Wey¹, Xingfeng Shao², and Danny JJ Wang²

¹Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States, ²USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly regulated structure that protect the central nervous system (CNS). BBB impairment is implicated in several brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels are critically involved in regulating brain water transport across the BBB. We have recently developed a diffusion-weighted pCASL (DW-pCASL) technique allowing measurement of water permeability across the BBB. In this study, we implemented and optimized DW-pCASL in nonhuman primates. We directly validated that the underlying signal mechanism of DW-pCASL is related to AQP4-mediated BBB water exchange using a pharmacological challenge.

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