The presence of blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is unclear. This study uses a novel MRI approach to study AD and age-related alterations in BBB leakage to water (PSw) and gadolinium (Ktrans) in a transgenic rat model of AD. We show PSw is increased in transgenic animals relative to wild-types but that Ktrans is independent of genotype. This study demonstrates the benefit of probing the BBB with molecules of different sizes, and suggests measurements of BBB permeability to water are more sensitive to AD-related BBB alterations than estimates of gadolinium leakage.
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