Yuan Mei1, Robia G. Pautler2
1Department of Psychology, Rice
University, Houston, TX, United States; 2Department of Molecular
Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United
States
There
are many neurodegenerative diseases that cause lysosomal pathology including
Alzheimers and Sandhoff disease. In these disorders, cellular irregularities
disrupt the lysosomal membrane and cause the organelle to lose its internal
acidity. Using a convertible T1 contrast agent sensitive to acidity, we
hypothesize that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to detect
lysosome membrane permeabilization and loss of acidity in mouse models with
lysosomal pathology. If successful, this methodology can potentially be
applied in vivo and used as a tool to improve current diagnostic methods for
neurological disorders such as Alzheimers disease.