Metabolic Imaging using Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer in Rat Transgenic Model of Alzheimer’s Disease Comorbid with Metabolic Syndrome

Our study characterized the hippocampal glucose uptake in an Alzheimer’s Disease rat model (TgF344AD) comorbid with metabolic syndrome modeled by cafeteria (CAF) diet. Glucose uptake was evaluated by detecting 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) using chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI in 6- and 12-month-old cohorts, reflecting pre-clinical and established disease stages, respectively. CAF diet attenuated glucose uptake of both non-transgenic and transgenic-AD at 6 months of age; whereas at 12 months of age, CAF diet enhanced the hippocampal glucose uptake of TgAD but attenuated it in chow-fed TgAD, when compared to that in correspondingly fed nTg littermates.