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The basal forebrain volume reduction detected by MRI does not necessarily link with the cholinergic neuronal loss in the Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

The basal forebrain volume reduction detected by MRI does not necessarily link with the cholinergic neuronal loss in the Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

Zhou XA, Ngiam G, Qian L, Sankorrakul K, Coulson EJ, Chuang KH (2022) The basal forebrain volume reduction detected by MRI does not necessarily link with the cholinergic neuronal loss in the Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Neurobiol Aging 117:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.03.017 PMID: 35640461

Objective: Assess basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic neuron number by histological counts and compare with the volume measurements from an in vivo MRI Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mouse model.

Summary: Degeneration of cholinergic neurons in the BF contributes to cognitive impairment in AD. A decrease of BF volume measured by structural MRI is thought to represent loss of cholinergic neurons. As there are various types of neurons in the BF, whether this MRI measurement actually reflects the change of cholinergic neurons has not been verified. To test whether specific loss of cholinergic neurons results in BF reduction, the authors ablated cholinergic neurons in the Medial septum.

Usage: Lesions were made via injections of mu-p75-SAP (0.5 mg/ml) or control Rabbit-IgG-SAP (0.5 mg/mL) into ten-week-old female C57Bl/6J mice. However, there was no detectable change in MRI volume between lesioned and unlesioned mice. The results indicate that although loss of cholinergic neurons within the BF likely contribute to volume loss, this change in volume cannot be taken as a direct biomarker of cholinergic neuron number.