Anne Bertrand1,2, Alexandra Petiet1,3, Sbastien Mriaux2, Christopher J. Wiggins2, Audrey Kraska1,2, Olne Dorieux1,2, Fabienne Aujard4, Marc Dhenain1,2
1CNRS URA2210, MIRCen, Orsay, France; 2Neurospin, I2BM, CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; 3Sanofi-Aventis R&D, Vitry-sur-Seine, France; 4UMR CNRS/MNHN 7179, Mecadev, Brunoy, France
Mouse lemurs provide a promising primate model of Alzheimer's disease. We performed a morphological micro-MRI ex vivo study on 6 mouse lemur formalin-fixed brains using gadolinium passive staining (PS). Quantitative analysis showed that PS increased the contrast-to noise ratio (CNR) between grey and white matter, even in very small white matter tracts. Qualitative analysis showed that structures as small as the dentate gyrus and olfactory bulb cell layers could be resolved on a 3D FLASH sequence. Our results should be useful in preclinical studies using this primate model of AD.