Dissecting structural and functional connectivity in a mouse model of vascular dementia
White matter hyper intensity is a distinctive radiological feature in the elderly and is now considered to be associated with vascular dementia. Diffusion MRI is sensitive to white matter changes, and several dMRI parameters have proven useful at predicting the likelihood of developing dementia. Recent high profile studies have used dMRI to probe structural connectivity in patients with white matter hyperintensites. Reduced global efficiency at baseline was a good predictor of conversion to dementia over the follow up period. Animal models offer the opportunity to explore the mechanisms that may underpin these changes, though connectivity analysis is not yet as established in rodents as in humans. We have preliminary data that suggests there are structural connectivity impairments in a mouse model of brain hypoperfusion that recapitulates features of white matter damage. Recently, we have been trying to link these findings to functional information from rsfMRI to better understand network vulnerability to hypoperfusion.
Date: 28 January 2020, 15:00
Venue: John Radcliffe West Wing and Children's Hospital, Headington OX3 9DU
Venue Details: Seminar Room A, Level 6
Speaker: Associate Professor Tracy Farr (University of Nottingham)
Organising department: Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Organiser: Kamila Szulc-Lerch (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: kamila.szulc-lerch@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Jason Lerch (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Jacqueline Pumphrey