Neurovascular unit impairment in early Alzheimer's disease measured with magnetic resonance imaging
Abstract
The neurovascular unit, which protects neuronal cells and supplies them with essential molecules, plays an important role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The aim of this study was to noninvasively investigate 2 linked functional elements of the neurovascular unit, blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability and cerebral blood flow (CBF), in patients with early AD and healthy controls. Therefore, both dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging were applied to measure BBB permeability and CBF, respectively. The patients with early AD showed significantly lower CBF and local blood volume in the gray matter, compared with controls. In the patients, we also found that a reduction in CBF is correlated with an increase in leakage rate. This finding supports the hypothesis that neurovascular damage, and in particular impairment of the neurovascular unit constitutes the pathophysiological link between CBF reduction and BBB impairment in AD.
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Recent neuroimaging studies in individuals with MCI and early AD reveal BBB breakdown in the hippocampus, including its CA1 and dentate gyrus subfields, and several gray and white matter regions, before brain atrophy and dementia.
“Recent neuroimaging studies in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early AD reveal BBB breakdown in the hippocampus, including its CA1 and dentate gyrus subfields (421), and several gray and white matter regions (220-222), respectively, before brain atrophy and dementia.”
From Blood-Brain Barrier: From Physiology to Disease and Back (2019) · cites this paper as [222]
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- Authors
- van de Haar, H. J., Jansen, J. F. A., van Osch, M. J. P., van Buchem, M. A., Muller, M., Wong, S. M., Hofman, P. A. M., Burgmans, S., Verhey, F. R. J., & Backes, W. H.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University Medical Centre (NL)
- Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Backes, Walter H.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 45
- Pages
- 190-196
- ISSN
- 0197-4580 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2490908868
- Cited by
- 207
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 10.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neurobiology of Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Internationale Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek (10553)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Keywords
- neurovascular unit, early Alzheimer's disease, blood-brain barrier permeability, cerebral blood flow, arterial spin labeling, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, leakage rate, neurovascular injury
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Blood-Brain Barrier, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Microvessels, Gray Matter
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