Abstract #0957

Meadowcroft M, Yang Q, Smith M, Connor J, Sun X, Wang J

The inability to regulate iron leading to abnormally elevated levels in brain tissue has been associated with several neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinsons, Huntington (HD) and Alzheimers disease. Iron distribution in tissue acts as a natural contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging because the transverse relaxation rate R2* (=1/T2*) is a sensitive MRI parameter for evaluation of tissue iron concentration. With the iron loading animal model used here, we show that elevated iron levels in various brain regions do positively correlate to higher R2* relaxation values. This data supports the initiative to create and validate a model of R2* relaxation and the corresponding iron concentration within brain tissue.