A Multimodal Imaging Approach for Phenotyping of Dynein Heavy Chain Mutant Mice Cra1 Using MRI and PET/CT

Detlef Stiller¹, Thomas Kaulisch¹, Selina Bucher¹, Julia Tillmanns¹, David Kind¹, Heiko G. Niessen¹, Krisztina Rona-Vrs², Kerstin E. Braunstein², Hans-Peter Mller², Luc Dupuis³, Albert C. Ludolph²

A mouse with a point mutation in the gene encoding the motorprotein dynein is characterized by abnormal reflexes and by progressive motor and behavioral abnormalities without motor neuron degeneration. Even though previous studies showed age-dependent striatal astrocytosis and dysfunction, no in-vivo characterization of the brain has been performed yet. To investigate structural and functional alterations in the mouse brain, longitudinal MRI and [18F]-Fallypride PET were performed. In mutant mice the striatum size was significantly decreased, that of the ventricles significantly increased. PET imaging revealed a significantly reduced striatal uptake of Fallypride, supporting the theory of cell loss in the structure.