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Massimi L, Bukreeva I, Santamaria G, Fratini M, Corbelli A, Brun F, Fumagalli S, Maugeri L, Pacureanu A, Cloetens P, Pieroni N, Fiordaliso F, Forloni G, Uccelli A, Kerlero de Rosbo N, Balducci C, Cedola A. Exploring Alzheimer's disease mouse brain through X-ray phase contrast tomography: From the cell to the organ. Neuroimage 2018; 184:490-495. [PMID: 30240904 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.09.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2018] [Revised: 09/09/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with aberrant production of beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptide depositing in brain as amyloid plaques. While animal models allow investigation of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy, technology to fully dissect the pathological mechanisms of this complex disease at cellular and vascular levels is lacking. X-ray phase contrast tomography (XPCT) is an advanced non-destructive 3D multi-scale direct imaging from the cell through to the whole brain, with exceptional spatial and contrast resolution. We exploit XPCT to simultaneously analyse disease-relevant vascular and neuronal networks in AD mouse brain, without sectioning and staining. The findings clearly show the different typologies and internal structures of Aβ plaques, together with their interaction with patho/physiological cellular and neuro-vascular microenvironment. XPCT enables for the first time a detailed visualization of amyloid-angiopathy at capillary level, which is impossible to achieve with other approaches. XPCT emerges as added-value technology to explore AD mouse brain as a whole, preserving tissue chemistry and structure, enabling the comparison of physiological vs. pathological states at the level of crucial disease targets. In-vivo translation will permit to monitor emerging therapeutic approaches and possibly shed new light on pathological mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Massimi
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy
| | - Inna Bukreeva
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Michela Fratini
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Francesco Brun
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Laura Maugeri
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Peter Cloetens
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France
| | - Nicola Pieroni
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy
| | - Fabio Fiordaliso
- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Uccelli
- DINOGMI, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy; Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy
| | | | - Claudia Balducci
- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
| | - Alessia Cedola
- Istituto di Nanotecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
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Abstract
Alzheimer disease neuropathology is characterized by the extracellular accumulation of Aβ peptide and intracellular aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau. With the progression of the disease, macroscopic atrophy affects the entorhinal area and hippocampus, amygdala, and associative regions of the neocortex. The locus coeruleus is depigmented. The deposition of Aβ is first made of diffuse deposits. Amyloid focal deposits constitute the core of the senile plaque which also comprises a corona of tau-positive neurites. Aβ deposits are found successively in the neocortex, the hippocampus, the striatum, the mesencephalon, and finally the cerebellum together with the pontine nuclei (Thal phases). Tau pathology affects in a stereotyped order some specific nuclei of the brainstem, the entorhinal area, the hippocampus, and the neocortex - first the associative areas and secondarily the primary cortices (Braak stages). Loss of synapses is observed in association with tau and Aβ pathology; neuronal loss occurs in the most affected areas. Granulovacuolar degeneration and perisomatic granules are also linked to Alzheimer disease pathology. The physiopathology of Alzheimer disease remains unknown. Familial cases suggest that Aβ deposition is the initial step, but tau pathology appears early in the course and seems to be better correlated with the symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Laura Calderon-Garcidueñas
- Raymond Escourolle Neuropathology Department. Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Instituto de Medicina Forense, Universidad Veracruzana, Boca del Río, Mexico
| | - Charles Duyckaerts
- Raymond Escourolle Neuropathology Department. Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Alzheimer-Prion Research Team, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle (ICM), Paris, France.
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