Perfusion Imaging via Pseudo Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling in Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease on High Carbohydrate High Fat Diet

Motivation: Interaction of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology and vascular comorbidities is difficult to study in humans due to slow course of AD1 and high interpatient heterogeneity2,3 . Therefore, experimental AD models with vascular comorbidities are needed with sensitive and translational imaging assays. Goal(s): Use pCASL to establish an assay of hippocampal neurovascular compromise and its sensitivity to AD with vascular comorbidities. Approach: TgF344-AD rats were given 3 months ad lib access to high carbohydrate, high fat (HCHF) food. Hippocampal functional hyperemia in response to somatosensation was assessed using pCASL-MRI. Results: AD pathology induced hippocampal vascular and neuronal dysfunction; whereas HCHF prevented neurovascular impairments. Impact: We established an assay of hippocampal neurovascular function for studying the sequelae of AD and its vascular comorbidities that is of high translational potential given limited aging/neurodegeneration dependent effects on somatosensation and ease of delivering somatosensory stimuli.