Development of highly sensitive MR molecular imaging method for early diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer disease

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24659567
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: TOGAO Osamu 九州大学, 大学病院, 助教 (10452749)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMATO Mayumi 九州大学, 先端融合レドックスナビ研究拠点, 准教授 (30380695) ; HIWATASHI Akio 九州大学, 大学病院, 助教 (30444855) ; YOSHIURA Takashi 鹿児島大学, 医歯(薬)学総合研究科, 教授 (40322747) ; HONDA Hiroshi 九州大学, 医学研究院, 教授 (90145433)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ICHIKAWA Kazuhiro 九州大学, 先端融合レドックスナビ研究拠点, 教授 (10271115)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 磁気共鳴画像（MRI） / アルツハイマー病 / 造影剤 / 早期診断 / 分子イメージング

Research Abstract

Recent study suggested that impared cognitive function observed in Alzheimer disease (AD) is related to microglia activations evoked by amyloid deposition in the brain. In this study, we have develop the novel MR molecular imaging method to detect microglia accumulation in the brain tissue by using Ultrasmall super paramagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) contrast agent. We confirmed in the animal model of AD that this technique could sensitively detect the USPIO phagocytized by microglia in the brain. In the future, this method can be a useful and sensitive method for early diagnosis and monitoring of AD in the clinical settings.