TY - JOUR
T1 - Micro-MRI Study of Cerebral Aging
T2 - Ex Vivo Detection of Hippocampal Subfield Reorganization, Microhemorrhages and Amyloid Plaques in Mouse Lemur Primates
AU - Bertrand, Anne
AU - Pasquier, Adrien
AU - Petiet, Alexandra
AU - Wiggins, Christopher
AU - Kraska, Audrey
AU - Joseph-Mathurin, Nelly
AU - Aujard, Fabienne
AU - Mestre-Francés, Nadine
AU - Dhenain, Marc
PY - 2013/2/27
Y1 - 2013/2/27
N2 - Mouse lemurs are non-human primate models of cerebral aging and neurodegeneration. Much smaller than other primates, they recapitulate numerous features of human brain aging, including progressive cerebral atrophy and correlation between regional atrophy and cognitive impairments. Characterization of brain atrophy in mouse lemurs has been done by MRI measures of regional CSF volume and by MRI measures of regional atrophy. Here, we further characterize mouse lemur brain aging using ex vivo MR microscopy (31 μm in-plane resolution). First, we performed a non-biased, direct volumetric quantification of dentate gyrus and extended Ammon's horn. We show that both dentate gyrus and Ammon's horn undergo an age-related reorganization leading to a growth of the dentate gyrus and an atrophy of the Ammon's horn, even in the absence of global hippocampal atrophy. Second, on these first MR microscopic images of the mouse lemur brain, we depicted cortical and hippocampal hypointense spots. We demonstrated that their incidence increases with aging and that they correspond either to amyloid deposits or to cerebral microhemorrhages.
AB - Mouse lemurs are non-human primate models of cerebral aging and neurodegeneration. Much smaller than other primates, they recapitulate numerous features of human brain aging, including progressive cerebral atrophy and correlation between regional atrophy and cognitive impairments. Characterization of brain atrophy in mouse lemurs has been done by MRI measures of regional CSF volume and by MRI measures of regional atrophy. Here, we further characterize mouse lemur brain aging using ex vivo MR microscopy (31 μm in-plane resolution). First, we performed a non-biased, direct volumetric quantification of dentate gyrus and extended Ammon's horn. We show that both dentate gyrus and Ammon's horn undergo an age-related reorganization leading to a growth of the dentate gyrus and an atrophy of the Ammon's horn, even in the absence of global hippocampal atrophy. Second, on these first MR microscopic images of the mouse lemur brain, we depicted cortical and hippocampal hypointense spots. We demonstrated that their incidence increases with aging and that they correspond either to amyloid deposits or to cerebral microhemorrhages.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874529261&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0056593
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0056593
M3 - Article
C2 - 23460806
AN - SCOPUS:84874529261
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 8
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 2
M1 - e56593
ER -