UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Bernard Siow
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
Aisha B Akilo
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Phoebe G Evans
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Ozama Ismail
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Yolanda Ohene
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Payam Nahavandi
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Neuroradiological Academic Unit, Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
Mark F Lythgoe
UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom
The glymphatics system describes a CSF-mediated clearance pathway for the removal of potentially harmful molecules, such as amyloid beta, from the brain. As such, its components may represent new therapeutic targets to alleviate aberrant protein accumulation that defines the most prevalent neurodegenerative conditions. Currently, however, the absence of any non-invasive measurement technique prohibits detailed understanding of glymphatic function in the human brain and in turn, it’s role in pathology. Here, we present the first non-invasive technique for the assessment of glymphatic inflow by using an ultra-long echo time, low b-value, multi-direction diffusion weighted MRI sequence to assess perivascular fluid movement (which represents a critical component of the glymphatic pathway) in the rat brain. This novel, quantitative and non-invasive approach may represent a valuable biomarker of CSF-mediated brain clearance, working towards the clinical need for reliable and early diagnostic indicators of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.