Novel Neuroimaging Assessments of Glymphatic Disruption in Humans, a Plausible Key Pathophysiological Mechanism for CNS Lupus
Abstract
This project develops and applies novel brain imaging to probe a new route by which SLE can lead to neuronal degradation. It adds the glymphatic system to the array of neurovascular components that plausibly underlie the pathobiology of lupus, even before overt neuropsychiatric syndromes. We have generated a combination of neuroimaging protocols allowing regional characterization of glymphatic structural and functional integrity. A vascular space occupancy (VASO) imaging sequence is being used to measure amplitude of fluctuations in vascular volume driven by respiratory and cardiac cycles, a purported mechanism for glymphatic flow. Protocol development led to a focus on detecting the glymphatic-specific microenvironment by adopting "microdynamic" imaging methods based on relaxation-diffusion correlation spectroscopy. In this way, we aim to detect a restricted diffusion microenvironment of CSF-like fluid (e.g. glymphatics) by employing wide regimes of relaxation and diffusion. We have successfully imaged the target 16 lupus subjects and 16 controls using this protocol. We are undertaking advanced analysis pipelines for these novel datasets.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1199731
Entities
People
- Hermine Brunner
- Mark DiFrancesco