Puneet Bagga1, Rachelle Crescenzi1, Guruprasad Krishnamoorthy1, Ravi Prakash Reddy Nanga1, Damodara Reddy1, Sidyarth Garimall1, Kevin D'Aquilla1, Joel Greenberg2, John A Detre2, Hari Hariharan1, and Ravinder Reddy1
1Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 2Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
MPTP
(1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) causes selective dopaminergic
death in the substantia nigra and striatum leading to dopamine loss in the
basal ganglia. Here, we apply glutamate chemical exchange saturation transfer (GluCEST),
a novel non-invasive MRI technique, to investigate glutamate changes in MPTP
mouse model. The data suggests elevation in GluCEST contrast in striatum and
motor cortex of MPTP treated mice. Immunostaining experiments showed elevation
of glial markers in the striatum, which correlates with the GluCEST contrast.
Also, motor function was found to be negatively correlated with GluCEST.
