Shiliang Huang1, Fang Du1, Yen-Yu I. Shih1, Qiang Shen1, Ai-Ling Lin1, Shao-Hua Yang2, Timothy Q. Duong1
1Reseach Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States; 2Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, United States
Methylene blue (MB) is FDA-approved to treat methemoglobinemia and cyanide poisoning and it has recently been shown to be neuroprotective in stroke, Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases in preclinical and clinical studies. MB enhances ATP production by acting as an electron donor in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. It also reduces free radical production under metabolically stressed conditions. This study used MRI to investigate the effects of MB on hemodynamic and metabolic parameters. We found that MB increases basal BF, hypercapnia-induced and forepaw-stimulation fMRI responses and oxygen consumption during forepaw stimulation. These results support the positive benefits of MB for treatments.