Rheal A. Towner1,
Nataliya Smith1, Debra Saunders1, Florea Luou2,
Robert Silasi-Mansat2, Melinda West3, Dario C. Ramirez4,
Sandra E. Gomez-Mejiba4, Marcelo G. Bonini5, Ronald P.
Mason6, Marilyn I. Ehrenshaft6, Kenneth Hensley7
1Advanced
Magnetic Resonance Center, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma
City, OK, United States; 2Cardiovascular Biology, Oklahoma Medical
Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, United States; 3Free
Radical Biology & Aging, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma
City, OK, United States; 44Laboratory of Experimental Medicine
& Therapeutics, National University of San Luis, San Luis, Argentina; 5Medicine,
Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 6Laboratory
of Pharmacology and Chemistry, National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States; 7Department
of Pathology, University of Toledo Health Sciences Campus, Toledo, OH, United
States
Free radicals play a major role in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a detrimental neuroinflammatory disease. We used a combination of targeted molecular MRI (mMRI) and immuno-spin-trapping (IST) to detect for the first time non-invasive in vivo spin-trapped membrane-bound radicals (MBR) in a mouse model for ALS. MBR are trapped by the spin trapping compound 5,5-dimethyl-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO). Using both mMRI and IST provides the advantage of in vivo image resolution and spatial differentiation of regional events in heterogeneous tissues or organs and the regional targeting of free radical mediated oxidation of cellular membrane components.