In vivo detection of amyloid plaques by gadolinium-stained MRI can be used to demonstrate the efficacy of an anti-amyloid immunotherapy

Extracellular deposition of β amyloid plaques is an early event associated to Alzheimer's disease. Here we have used in vivo gadolinium-stained high resolution (29*29*117µm3) MRI to follow-up in a longitudinal way individual amyloid plaques in APP/PS1 mice and evaluate the efficacy of a new imm...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mathieu D. Santin, Michel E. Vandenberghe, Anne-Sophie eHerard, Laurent ePradier, Caroline eCohen, Thomas eDebeir, Thierry eDelzescaux, Thomas eRooney, Marc eDhenain
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
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Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00055/full
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Summary:Extracellular deposition of β amyloid plaques is an early event associated to Alzheimer's disease. Here we have used in vivo gadolinium-stained high resolution (29*29*117µm3) MRI to follow-up in a longitudinal way individual amyloid plaques in APP/PS1 mice and evaluate the efficacy of a new immunotherapy (SAR255952) directed against protofibrillar and fibrillary forms of Aβ. APP/PS1 mice were treated for 5 months between the age of 3.5 and 8.5 months. SAR255952 reduced amyloid load in 8.5-month-old animals, but not in 5.5-month animals compared to mice treated with a control antibody (DM4). Histological evaluation confirmed the reduction of amyloid load and revealed a lower density of amyloid plaques in 8.5-month SAR255952-treated animals. The longitudinal follow-up of individual amyloid plaques by MRI revealed that plaques that were visible at 5.5 months were still visible at 8.5 months in both SAR255952 and DM4-treated mice. This suggests that the amyloid load reduction induced by SAR255952 is related to a slowing down in the formation of new plaques rather than to the clearance of already formed plaques.
ISSN:1663-4365