Cellular Viscosity as a Marker for Alzheimer s Disease Pathology: A Combined Multiparametric MR Spectroscopy and PET Study

Brief description of study

This project proposes the use of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Fingerprinting (MRSF) to quantify changes in intracellular viscosity separately within neurons and astrocytes and assess AD pathophysiology. We will work with the NYU AD Research Center to include our MRSF sequence within their routine tau-PET/MRI protocol, allowing for serial follow-up of a cohort of 100 cognitively normal individuals and patients with mild cognitive impairment. Both sets of subjects will undergo yearly neurocognitive assessments, plasma Aß and plasma tau evaluations; and biennial Aß-PET, tau-PET, and MRI+MRSF scans. The expected outcome of this work is a set of novel markers for neuronal and astrocytic intracellular viscosity which will potentially become biomarkers for early prediction of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in AD, addressing gaps in the current imaging armamentarium of the AT(N) network.


Clinical Study Identifier: s23-01038
Principal Investigator: Ivan I Kirov.
Other Investigators: Seena Dehkharghani, Assaf Tal, Katharina Eikermann-Haerter, Arjun V. Masurkar, Henry Rusinek, Ricardo Miguel Osorio Suarez.


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