Parastou Foroutan1,2, Melissa E. Murray3,
Shinsuke Fujioka4, Katherine J. Schweitzer4, Dennis W.
Dickson3, Samuel Colles Grant1,2, Zbigniew K. Wszolek4
1National High Magnetic
Field Laboratory, the Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States;
2Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, the Florida State
University, Tallahassee, FL, United States; 3Department of
Pathology & Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States; 4Department
of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
MR microscopy (MRM) of the postmortem human globus pallidus (GP) acquired at 21.1 T was employed to distinguish between Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and healthy brain tissue. Statistical significance was found between PSP and controls for T2* and T2 relaxation in the GP interna and externa as well as for T2* in the putamen. Histology showed that the GP interna displayed the largest difference between the PSP samples and controls, with the former showing a higher iron burden. As such, non-hem iron in the brain serves as a contrast enhancer and as a pathological biomarker to distinguish PSP samples from controls.
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