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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Detection of Neuritic Plaques in Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model
Published on: July 26, 2011
MR microimaging of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice
Thomas M Wengenack1, Clifford R Jack, Michael Garwood
1Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Introduction:
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurological condition affecting industrialized nations and will rapidly become a healthcare crisis as the population ages. Currently, the post-mortem histological observation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles is the only definitive diagnosis available for AD. A pre-mortem biological or physiological marker specific for AD used in conjunction with current neurological and memory testing could add a great deal of confidence to the diagnosis of AD and potentially allow therapeutic intervention much earlier in the disease process.
Discussion And Conclusion:
Our group has developed MRI techniques to detect individual amyloid plaques in AD transgenic mouse brain in vivo. We are also developing contrast-enhancing agents to increase the specificity of detection of amyloid plaques. Such in vivo imaging of amyloid plaques will also allow the evaluation of anti-amyloid therapies being developed by the pharmaceutical industry in pre-clinical trials of AD transgenic mice. This short review briefly discusses our progress in these areas.
