Abstract #1302

Lung infection alters perivascular aquaporin-4 in rat model of Alzheimer’s Disease detected by filter exchange imaging (FEXI)

Yolanda Ohene^1,2, William J Harris^2,3, Elizabeth Powell⁴, Katherine F Smethers³, Nadim Luka^2,3, Kieron South^2,3, Michael Berks⁵, Catherine B Lawrence^2,3, Geoff J. M Parker^4,6, Laura M Parkes^1,2, Hervé Boutin^3,7, and Ben R Dickie^2,5

¹Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ²Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ³Division of Neuroscience, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ⁴Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL, London, United Kingdom, ⁵Division of Informatics, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ⁶Bioxydyn Limited, Manchester, United Kingdom, ⁷iBrain, Université de Tours, Tours, France

Synopsis

Keywords: Novel Contrast Mechanisms, Alzheimer's Disease, Blood-brain barrier

Motivation: Pneumonia is more prevalent in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients than in healthy elderly people, which may be due to blood-brain barrier (BBB) vulnerability.

Goal(s): We assess whether filter exchange imaging (FEXI) can be used to understand the comorbid mechanisms occurring at the BBB with pneumonia and AD.

Approach: We apply the FEXI technique to a TgF344-AD rat model of AD with induced Streptococcus pneumoniae lung infection.

Results: FEXI detects significantly higher BBB water exchange in infected rats, with greater increase in the AD group, which significantly correlates to upregulation of hippocampus aquaporin-4 water channels, demonstrating the sensitivity of non-invasive FEXI to BBB alterations.

Impact: This work could be translated to a clinical study using filter exchange imaging to assess whether Alzheimer’s Disease patients suffering with pneumonia also exhibit worse blood-brain barrier alterations than patients without pneumonia and healthy elderly people.

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