Abstract #0930

Bar-Shir A, Cohen Y

Amyloid plaques are the hallmark of Alzheimer disease (AD) but their identifications by non-invasive methods is difficult. Here we demonstrate for the first time, that A&[beta] plaques can be detected in APP751 transgenic (tg) mice without the need for contrast agents. In addition, we demonstrate that an in-plane resolution of 50&[mu]m and slice thickness of 100&[mu]m are optimal for the detection of A&[beta] plaques in this tg strain. As expected, longer TE in the gradient echo sequence also increases the detectability of the A&[beta] plaques, however, these images can be problematic due to their relatively low SNR.