T2-weighted MRI studies of mouse lemurs: a primate model of brain aging

Previous histological and behavioral studies of aging mouse lemurs have demonstrated changes similar to those observed in elderly humans and in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We explored 18 animals of ages 6 months to 9 years. Axial T2-weighted images of the brain were performed on a 4.7 Tesla Bruker Biospec 47/30 system. We estimated cerebral atrophy by adding measures of high signal areas characteristic of cerebrospinal fluid (interlobular and sylvian fissures, lateral and third ventricles) of four contiguous cortical slices. We observed a significant increase of cerebral atrophy with aging and one case of an apathetic 8-year-old animal presenting a considerably higher cerebral atrophy. We also observed high correlations between decreased signal intensities and age for the pallidum, the substantia nigra, and the putamen. These results suggest that aging mouse lemurs present similar magnetic resonance images of cerebral alterations to those encountered in aging humans and that high-field T2-weighted magnetic resonance images can help in the early detection, in vivo, of animals suspected of pathological aging.