Susan K. Lemieux1,2, Carrie A. Smith-Bell3, Jeffrey S. Carpenter2, Bernard G. Schreurs3
1Social & Life Science Imaging Center, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA; 2Radiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA; 3Blanchett Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, Morgantown, WV, USA
Our purpose was to determine if a 2% cholesterol diet alters vessel diameter in rabbit cranial arteries including common and internal carotids, basilar, posterior communicating, and ophthalmic arteries. Further to test if vessel size changes were associated with beta-amyloid accumulation in the temporal lobes or hippocampus. Four groups of cholesterol-fed New Zealand white rabbits were studied by TOF-MRA. Vessel diameters were measured on the TOF gradient echo source images. Vessel diameters of the basilar artery and both posterior communicating arteries decreased with duration of the cholesterol diet. The amount of beta-amyloid that accumulated was inversely correlated with vessel size.
Keywords