Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, CFTRI, Mysore, India.
Neurochem Int. 2011 Oct;59(5):637-42. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2011.06.003. Epub 2011 Jun 24.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and is structurally characterized by brain atrophy and loss of brain volume. Aβ is one of the widely accepted causative factors of AD. Aβ deposition is positively correlated with brain atrophy in AD. In the present study, structural brain imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were used to measure neuroanatomical alterations in Alzheimer's disease brain. MRI is a non-invasive method to study brain structure. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the role of Aβ on brain structure in the aged rabbit brain. Among 20 aged rabbits, one batch (n=10) rabbits was injected chronically with Aβ(1-42) and another batch (n=10) with saline. The MRI was conducted before Aβ(1-42)/saline injection and after 45 days of Aβ(1-42)/saline injection. All the aged rabbits underwent MRI analysis and were euthanized after 45 days. The MRI results showed a significant reduction in thickness of frontal lobe, hippocampus, midbrain, temporal lobe and increases in the lateral ventricle volume. We also conducted an MRI study on AD (n=10) and normal (n=10) cases and analyzed for the thicknesses of frontal lobe, hippocampus, midbrain, temporal lobe and lateral ventricle lobe. We found significant reductions in thickness of the frontal lobe and the hippocampus. However, no significant reduction in the thickness of midbrain, temporal lobe or increase in the lateral ventricle volume was observed compared to normal. Correlations in brain atrophy changes between rabbit brain and human AD brain were found for frontal lobe and hippocampal regions. In contrast, other regions such as midbrain, temporal lobe, and lateral ventricles were not correlated with rabbit brain atrophy changes in the corresponding regions. The relevance of these changes in AD is discussed.
阿尔茨海默病是最常见的痴呆症形式，其结构特征为脑萎缩和脑容量丧失。β淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）是被广泛接受的 AD 致病因素之一。Aβ 沉积与 AD 中的脑萎缩呈正相关。在本研究中，使用磁共振成像（MRI）等结构脑成像技术来测量阿尔茨海默病大脑的神经解剖变化。MRI 是一种非侵入性的研究脑结构的方法。本研究的目的是阐明 Aβ 在老年兔脑结构中的作用。在 20 只老年兔中，一批（n=10）兔被慢性注射 Aβ（1-42），另一批（n=10）注射生理盐水。在注射 Aβ（1-42）/生理盐水之前和 45 天后进行 MRI，所有老年兔在 45 天后接受 MRI 分析并安乐死。MRI 结果显示额叶、海马体、中脑、颞叶厚度显著变薄，侧脑室体积增大。我们还对 AD（n=10）和正常（n=10）病例进行了 MRI 研究，并分析了额叶、海马体、中脑、颞叶和侧脑室的厚度。我们发现额叶和海马体的厚度显著变薄。然而，与正常相比，中脑、颞叶的厚度没有明显变薄，侧脑室体积也没有增加。在兔脑和人 AD 脑之间发现了脑萎缩变化的相关性，在额叶和海马区。相比之下，中脑、颞叶和侧脑室等其他区域与兔脑相应区域的萎缩变化没有相关性。讨论了这些变化在 AD 中的相关性。
