Increased functional connectivity in the SOD1(G93A) animal model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: a rs-fMRI study at 4.7T

To date fMRI studies on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients are still inconsistent. Here, we performed a rs-fMRI study on a pre-clinical model of ALS with the aim to identify biomarkers at functional level, defining an experimental platform useful for the evaluation of disease progression and therapies development. rs-fMRI was performed in SOD1(G93A) and WT mice using a 4.7T tomograph and an EPI sequence. Our results showed increased functional connectivity in SOD1(G93A) mice at the end-stage of disease. In this work, we defined a functional testbed for ALS animal model and demonstrated the feasibility of rs-fMRI in mice at 4.7T.