Cerebral blood and CSF flow dynamics in preclinical Alzheimer’s

Motivation: Cardiac driven CSF flow might play an important role in brain metabolite waste clearance. Comorbid cerebrovascular disease is common in Alzheimer’s disease and could lead to impaired CSF flow motion and waste clearance. Goal(s): We aimed to characterize the associations between blood and CSF flow dynamics during preclinical AD. Approach: Cognitively unimpaired participants underwent multi-delay (MD) ASL, and high- and low-velocity encoded 4D-Flow for the assessment of blood and CSF flow. AD pathology including amyloid and tau were determined from [11C]-PiB and [18F]-MK6240 PET. Results: Blood flow pulsatility and CSF flow velocities were positively correlated and significantly higher in AD biomarker positive. Impact: This work helps elucidate the coupling between blood and CSF flow during preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD), improving our understanding of neurofluids dynamics in AD. This information might help study brain clearance pathways which are hypothesized to be impaired in AD.