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Abstract #0160

Assessment of cholinergic synaptic transmission modulation in the mouse brain using resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rsfMRI)

Disha Shah 1 , Rafael Delgado y Palacios 1 , Pieter-Jan Guns 1 , Elisabeth Jonckers 1 , Marleen Verhoye 1 , and Annemie Van der Linden 1

1 University of Antwerp, Bio-Imaging Lab, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium

We hypothesize that synaptic transmission deficits in neurodegenerative disorders (ND) could be reflected as altered brain functional connectivity (FC) and can be detected using resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI). We investigate this hypothesis by pharmacologically modulating cholinergic synaptic transmission in the mouse brain using scopolamine and milameline. Scopolamine induced a decrease of FC between the hippocampus and thalamus and the hippocampus bilaterally, connections involved in learning/memory. The scopolamine-induced FC deficits are reversed by milameline. These results have implications for studies in animal models of ND, where rsfMRI can be used as a non-invasive tool to detect the modulation of synaptic transmission.

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