Translational value of choroid plexus imaging for tracking neuroinflammation in mice and humans.
Neuroinflammation is a pathophysiological hallmark of multiple sclerosis and has a close mechanistic link to neurodegeneration. Although this link is potentially targetable, robust translatable models to reliably quantify and track neuroinflammation in both mice and humans are lacking. The choroid plexus (ChP) plays a pivotal role in regulating the trafficking of immune cells from the brain parenchyma into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and has recently attracted attention as a key structure in the initiation of inflammatory brain responses. In a translational framework, we here address the integrity and multidimensional characteristics of the ChP under inflammatory conditions and question w…
Gradient-echo and CRAZED imaging for minute detection of Alzheimer plaques in an APPV717I x ADAM10-dn mouse model.
Different strategies to visualize amyloid plaques with MRI at 17.6 Tesla were investigated in a novel mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Large iron-containing plaques were observed in the thalamus, but cortical plaques did not show iron deposits. Plaques in the thalamus were visualized in vivo with the use of low-resolution, 3D gradient-echo (GRE) imaging in 82 s, and with 94-microm resolution in 34 min. The feasibility of obtaining bright contrast from plaques using the COSY revamped with asymmetric z-GRE detection (CRAZED) technique was investigated in experiments on fixed brains. The original CRAZED approach provided reduced signal near the plaques (similarly to GRE imaging) and ad…
Cortex-wide BOLD fMRI activity reflects locally-recorded slow oscillation-associated calcium waves.
When a person is in a deep non-dreaming sleep, neurons in their brain alternate slowly between periods of silence and periods of activity. This gives rise to low-frequency brain rhythms called slow waves, which are thought to help stabilize memories. Slow wave activity can be detected on multiple scales, from the pattern of electrical impulses sent by an individual neuron to the collective activity of the brain’s entire outer layer, the cortex. But does slow wave activity in an individual group of neurons in the cortex affect the activity of the rest of the brain? To find out, Schwalm, Schmid, Wachsmuth et al. took advantage of the fact that slow waves also occur under general anesthesia, a…
Assessing sensory versus optogenetic network activation by combining (o)fMRI with optical Ca2+ recordings
Encoding of sensory inputs in the cortex is characterized by sparse neuronal network activation. Optogenetic stimulation has previously been combined with fMRI (ofMRI) to probe functional networks. However, for a quantitative optogenetic probing of sensory-driven sparse network activation, the level of similarity between sensory and optogenetic network activation needs to be explored. Here, we complement ofMRI with optic fiber-based population Ca2+ recordings for a region-specific readout of neuronal spiking activity in rat brain. Comparing Ca2+ responses to the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal upon sensory stimulation with increasing frequencies showed adaptation of Ca2+ transient…