Interrogating Aging Progression and Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Using Metabolic Imaging

Motivation: Glycolytic hypometabolism may be a key player in dementia pathology. Alzheimer's disease (AD) commonly develops 25 years before clinical diagnosis. Goal(s): This study aims to image this hypometabolism by hyperpolarized MRI to diagnose AD at the onset of pathology, potentially enabling early treatment. Approach: Employing [1-13C] pyruvate hyperpolarized (HP) metabolic imaging and multiple AD mouse models, we interrogated reduced glycolysis at various stages of disease progression. Results: HP metabolic imaging can detect metabolic shift to lactate in AD mice, offering insights into metabolic changes throughout disease progression. Impact: Early detection of Alzheimer's disease employing hyperpolarized metabolic imaging may facilitate early intervention to prevent dementia, elucidate the metabolic pathology of the disease, and improve treatment outcome through monitoring of treatment efficacy.