Magnetic Resonance Q Mapping Reveals a Decrease in Microvessel Density in the arcAβ Mouse Model of Cerebral Amyloidosis

Alterations in density and morphology of the cerebral microvasculature have been reported to occur in Alzheimer's disease patients and animal models of the disease. In this study we compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for their utility to detect age-dependent changes of the cerebral vasculature in the arcAβ mouse model of cerebral amyloidosis. Dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC)-MRI was performed by tracking the passage of a superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle in the brain with dynamic gradient echo planar imaging (EPI). From this measurements relative cerebral blood volume [rCBV(DSC)] and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were estimated. For the same animal maps of the relaxation shift index Q were computed from high resolution gradient echo and spin echo data that were acquired before and after superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticle injection. Q-values were used to derive estimates of microvessel density. The change in the relaxation rates ΔR∗2 obtained from pre- and post-contrast gradient echo data was used for the alternative determination of rCBV [rCBV(ΔR∗2)]. Linear mixed effects modeling found no significant association between rCBV(DSC), rCBV(ΔR∗2), rCBF, and Q with genotype in 13-month old mice [compared to age- matched non-transgenic littermates (NTLs)] for any of the evaluated brain regions. In 24-month old mice there was a significant association for rCBV(DSC) with genotype in the cerebral cortex, and for rCBV(ΔR∗2) in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. For rCBF there was a significant association in the cerebellum but not in other brain regions. Q-values in the olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, striatum, hippocampus, and cerebellum in 24-month old mice were significantly associated with genotype. In those regions Q-values were reduced between 11 and 26% in arcAβ mice compared to age-matched NTLs. Vessel staining with CD31 immunohistochemistry confirmed a reduction of microvessel density in the old arcAβ mice. We further demonstrated a region- specific association between parenchymal and vascular deposition of β-amyloid and decreased vascular density, without a correlation with the amount of Aβ deposition. We found that Q mapping was more suitable than the hemodynamic read-outs to detect amyloid-related degeneration of the cerebral microvasculature

Three-Dimensional Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Based Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Characterization of Cerebral Arteriogenesis in the Mouse Neocortex

Purpose: Subsurface blood vessels in the cerebral cortex have been identified as a bottleneck in cerebral perfusion with the potential for collateral remodeling. However, valid techniques for non-invasive, longitudinal characterization of neocortical microvessels are still lacking. In this study, we validated contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) for in vivo characterization of vascular changes in a model of spontaneous collateral outgrowth following chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. Methods: C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to unilateral internal carotid artery occlusion or sham surgery and after 21 days, CE-MRI based on T2*-weighted imaging was performed using ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to obtain subtraction angiographies and steady-state cerebral blood volume (ss-CBV) maps. First pass dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC-MRI) was performed for internal validation of ss-CBV. Further validation at the histological level was provided by ex vivo serial two-photon tomography (STP). Results: Qualitatively, an increase in vessel density was observed on CE-MRI subtraction angiographies following occlusion; however, a quantitative vessel tracing analysis was prone to errors in our model. Measurements of ss-CBV reliably identified an increase in cortical vasculature, validated by DSC-MRI and STP. Conclusion: Iron oxide nanoparticle-based ss-CBV serves as a robust, non-invasive imaging surrogate marker for neocortical vessels, with the potential to reduce and refine preclinical models targeting the development and outgrowth of cerebral collateralization

Community Survey Results Show that Standardisation of Preclinical Imaging Techniques Remains a Challenge

Abstract Purpose To support acquisition of accurate, reproducible and high-quality preclinical imaging data, various standardisation resources have been developed over the years. However, it is unclear the impact of those efforts in current preclinical imaging practices. To better understand the status quo in the field of preclinical imaging standardisation, the STANDARD group of the European Society of Molecular Imaging (ESMI) put together a community survey and a forum for discussion at the European Molecular Imaging Meeting (EMIM) 2022. This paper reports on the results from the STANDARD survey and the forum discussions that took place at EMIM2022. Procedures The survey was delivered to the community by the ESMI office and was promoted through the Society channels, email lists and webpages. The survey contained seven sections organised as generic questions and imaging modality-specific questions. The generic questions focused on issues regarding data acquisition, data processing, data storage, publishing and community awareness of international guidelines for animal research. Specific questions on practices in optical imaging, PET, CT, SPECT, MRI and ultrasound were further included. Results Data from the STANDARD survey showed that 47% of survey participants do not have or do not know if they have QC/QA guidelines at their institutes. Additionally, a large variability exists in the ways data are acquired, processed and reported regarding general aspects as well as modality-specific aspects. Moreover, there is limited awareness of the existence of international guidelines on preclinical (imaging) research practices. Conclusions Standardisation of preclinical imaging techniques remains a challenge and hinders the transformative potential of preclinical imaging to augment biomedical research pipelines by serving as an easy vehicle for translation of research findings to the clinic. Data collected in this project show that there is a need to promote and disseminate already available tools to standardise preclinical imaging practices. </jats:sec

A consensus protocol for functional connectivity analysis in the rat brain

Task-free functional connectivity in animal models provides an experimental framework to examine connectivity phenomena under controlled conditions and allows for comparisons with data modalities collected under invasive or terminal procedures. Currently, animal acquisitions are performed with varying protocols and analyses that hamper result comparison and integration. Here we introduce StandardRat, a consensus rat functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition protocol tested across 20 centers. To develop this protocol with optimized acquisition and processing parameters, we initially aggregated 65 functional imaging datasets acquired from rats across 46 centers. We developed a reproducible pipeline for analyzing rat data acquired with diverse protocols and determined experimental and processing parameters associated with the robust detection of functional connectivity across centers. We show that the standardized protocol enhances biologically plausible functional connectivity patterns relative to previous acquisitions. The protocol and processing pipeline described here is openly shared with the neuroimaging community to promote interoperability and cooperation toward tackling the most important challenges in neuroscience

The role of beta-arrestin2 in shaping fMRI BOLD responses to dopaminergic stimulation

Rationale The dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) couples to inhibitory Gi/o proteins and is targeted by antipsychotic and antiparkinsonian drugs. Beta-arrestin2 binds to the intracellular regions of the agonist-occupied D2R to terminate G protein activation and promote internalization, but also to initiate downstream signaling cascades which have been implicated in psychosis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has proven valuable for measuring dopamine receptor-mediated changes in neuronal activity, and might enable beta-arrestin2 function to be studied in vivo. Objectives The present study examined fMRI blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal changes elicited by a dopamine agonist in wild-type (WT) and beta-arrestin2 knockout (KO) mice, to investigate whether genetic deletion of beta-arrestin2 prolongs or otherwise modifies D2R-dependent responses. Methods fMRI BOLD data were acquired on a 9.4 T system. During scans, animals received 0.2 mg/kg apomorphine, i.v. In a subset of experiments, animals were pretreated with 2 mg/kg of the D2R antagonist, eticlopride. Results Following apomorphine administration, BOLD signal decreases were observed in caudate/putamen of WT and KO animals. The time course of response decay in caudate/putamen was significantly slower in KO vs. WT animals. In cingulate cortex, an initial BOLD signal decrease was followed by a positive response component in WT but not in KO animals. Eticlopride pretreatment significantly reduced apomorphine-induced BOLD signal changes. Conclusions The prolonged striatal response decay rates in KO animals might reflect impaired D2R desensitization, consistent with the known function of beta-arrestin2. Furthermore, the apomorphine-induced positive response component in cingulate cortex may depend on beta-arrestin2 signaling downstream of D2R.ISSN:0033-3158ISSN:1432-207

Reconstructing cerebrovascular networks under local physiological constraints by integer programming

We introduce a probabilistic approach to vessel network extraction that enforces physiological constraints on the vessel structure. The method accounts for both image evidence and geometric relationships between vessels by solving an integer program, which is shown to yield the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate to a probabilistic model. Starting from an overconnected network, it is pruning vessel stumps and spurious connections by evaluating the local geometry and the global connectivity of the graph. We utilize a high-resolution micro computed tomography (μCT) dataset of a cerebrovascular corrosion cast to obtain a reference network and learn the prior distributions of our probabilistic model and we perform experiments on in-vivo magnetic resonance microangiography (μMRA) images of mouse brains. We finally discuss properties of the networks obtained under different tracking and pruning approaches