Elaine L. Bearer1, Xiaowei Zhang2, Octavian Biris1, Russell E. Jacobs2
1Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; 2Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Alterations in transport dynamics are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. We are using MEMRI to image the biophysics of intra-neuronal axonal transport and correlate rates of MR intensity changes with genetic/molecular differences in transport mechanics. Here we compare Mn++ transport dynamics observed by capturing 6-min time-lapse MR images in the polarized neural processes of the optic track between aged mice expressing an APP mutant correlated with Alzheimer' disease in humans (swAPP) and their wild-type age-matched counterparts. Our findings show that transport dynamics in the optic track are altered in the swAPP mouse, an Alzheimer's disease model.