Skip to main content

Development of manganese-enhance MRI to quantitatively estimate axonal transport rates in vivo

Using the intracellular calcium-analog contrast agent, manganese, and intranasal administration method, we developed a method to estimate the rate of bulk axonal transport in living animals.  We applied this technology to investigate very early changes in the axonal transport rate in AD transgenic mice as well as aged rats.  This technology is currently used for therapeutic evaluation of microtubule stabilizing drugs.

Related Publications

  1. Cross DJ, Minoshima S, Anzai Y, Flexman JA, Keogh BP, Kim Y, Maravilla KR. Statistical mapping of functional olfactory connections of the rat brain in vivo. Neuroimage. 2004 Dec;23(4):1326-35. PubMed PMID: 15589097
  2. Cross DJ, Flexman JA, Anzai Y, Morrow TJ, Maravilla KR, Minoshima S. In vivo imaging of functional disruption, recovery and alteration in rat olfactory circuitry after lesion. Neuroimage. 2006 Sep;32(3):1265-72. PubMed PMID:
  3. Cross DJ, Flexman JA, Anzai Y, Maravilla KR, Minoshima S. Age-related decrease in axonal transport measured by MR imaging in vivo. Neuroimage. 2008 Feb 1;39(3):915-26. PubMed PMID: 17980625
  4. Minoshima S, Cross D. In vivo imaging of axonal transport using MRI: aging and Alzheimer's disease. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2008 Mar;35 Suppl 1:S89-92. PubMed PMID: 18204931