Klohs, Jan, Rudin, Markus, Shimshek, Derya and Beckmann, Nicolau (2014) Imaging of Cerebrovascular Pathology in Animal Models of Alzheimer`s Disease. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Abstract

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular pathology may interact with neurodegeneration
and thus aggravate cognitive decline. As the relationship between these two processes is poorly
understood, research has been increasingly focused on understanding the link between
cerebrovascular alterations and AD. This has at last been spurred by the engineering of transgenic
animals, which display pathological features of AD and develop cerebral amyloid angiopathy to
various degrees. Transgenic models are versatile for investigating the role of amyloid deposition
and vascular dysfunction, and for evaluating novel therapeutic concepts. In addition, research has
benefited from the development of novel imaging techniques, which are capable of characterizing vascular pathology in vivo. They provide vascular structural read-outs and have the ability to assess the functional consequences of vascular dysfunction as well as to visualize and monitor the molecular processes underlying these pathological alterations. This article focusses on recent in vivo small animal imaging studies addressing vascular aspects related to AD. With the technical advances of imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance, nuclear and microscopic imaging, molecular, functional and structural information related to vascular pathology can now be
visualized in vivo in small rodents. Imaging vascular and parenchymal amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition as
well as Aβ transport pathways have been shown to be useful to characterize their dynamics and to
elucidate their role in the development of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and AD. Structural and
functional imaging read-outs have been employed to describe the deleterious affects of Aβ on
vessel morphology, hemodynamics and vascular integrity. More recent imaging studies have also
addressed how inflammatory processes partake in the pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover,
imaging can be pivotal in the search for novel therapies targeting the vasculature.

Item Type:	Article
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2015 13:13
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2015 13:13
URI:	https://oak.novartis.com/id/eprint/20042