A new PhD-project from Aarhus University, Health uses brain imaging to investigate the distribution of blood among the smallest of blood vessels in the brain, in relation to tissue oxygenation, harmfull protein depositioning and atrophy of the cerebral cortex in patients with early and advanced Alzheimer's disease. The project was carried out by Rune Bæksager Nielsen, who is defending his dissertation on November 15th 2018 at 2:00 pm.

02.11.2018 | Henriette Blæsild Vuust

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cortical Microcirculation, Brain Oxygenation and Neurodegeneration in Early and Advanced Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by dementia, brain atrophy and by accumulation of the harmfull proteins amyloid-β and tau in the brain. In addition, Alzheimer's disease shares risk factors with cardiovascular disease, and research suggests that both the structure and function of the brain's smallest blood vessel are impaired at early disease stages. Using novel MRI techniques, this PhD project found that the cerebral blood flow is reduced and further that the normal distribution of blood among the smallest blood vessels within the cerebral cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease is disturbed. The disturbed blood distribution was associated with the degree of cognitive symptoms, with thinning of the cerebral cortex and appeared to reduce oxygenation of brain tissue. The results indicate that reduced oxygen supply resulting from an impairment of the brain's vascular system may represent a previously overlooked cause of brain damage and possibly a path to the characteristic accumulation of harmful proteins in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Thus, future research should clarify the cause of the discovered changes in the brain's vascular system with the goal of developing efficient treatment strategies.    

The defense is public and takes place on November 15 2018 at 2:00 pm in the Palle Juul-Jensen Auditorium, Aarhus Universitetshospital, Bygning 10G, Nørrebrogade 44, 8000 Aarhus C. The title of the project is "Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cortical Microcirculation, Brain Oxygenation and Neurodegeneration in Early and Advanced Alzheimer's Disease".

For more information, please contact PhD student Rune Bæksager Nielsen, email: rbaeksager@cfin.au.dk, Phone +45 5133 3440.    

ALL ARE WELCOME

Assessment committee:

• Professor Jens Randel Nyengaard, Core Center for Molecular Morphology, Section for Stereology and Microscopy, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

• Professor Oskar Hansson, Department oof Clinical Sciences of Malmö and Lund, Lund University, Lund, Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.

• Associate Professor Tim Bjørn Dyrby, Image Analysis and Computer Graphics section, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.