Abstract #4031

Sildenafil improves vascular and metabolic function in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Hanzhang Lu¹, Min Sheng², Peiying Liu¹, Harshan Ravi¹, Shin-Lei Peng¹, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia³, Michael D. Devous Sr.⁴, and Kyle B. Womack⁵

¹Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ³Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States, ⁴Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, United States, ⁵Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of degenerative dementia in the aging population. Patients with AD have alterations in cerebral hemodynamic function. Therefore, improved cerebrovascular function may be an attractive goal for pharmaceutical intervention in AD. Our study applied several novel non-invasive MRI techniques to investigate the alterations of CBF, cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) after a single dose of sildenafil administration in order to assess its physiological effects in AD patients. Our data suggest that a single dose of sildenafil improves cerebral hemodynamic function and increases cerebral oxygen metabolism in patients with AD.

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