Postmortem biochemical studies have reported elevated iron concentrations in the hippocampus, cortical lobes, and basal ganglia regions of AD brains compared to controls. Furthermore, the increased iron accumulation is shown in both SPs and NFD regions that are major sites for the catalytic redox activity. Increasing evidences indicate that oxidative stress is one of the earliest events in the genesis of AD, and iron may play a crucial role. Iron concentrations are elevated in cortex and basal ganglia in AD patients indicating a disruption of iron homeostasis in the brain. Higher iron concentrations in AD brains may increase the possibility of free iron-catalyzed lipid peroxidation, which may cause cell membrane damages and subsequent cell deaths. Based on these findings, it is possible that iron chelators and inhibitors of the iron-dependent oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation may have a therapeutic value. Therefore, a quantitative measurement is required to assess and monitor the concentrations of iron deposited in the brain, which might provide a biomarker for early detection and design of therapeutic interventions. Iron, in the form of ferritin, can reduce T2 relaxation times or increase R2 values, and so we applied quantitative MR imaging proton transverse relaxation rate which has the potential to measure brain iron content indirectly and manifest other features of AD pathology in vivo. R2, the transverse relaxation rate, describes the rate of dephasing of the hydrogen nuclei in specific structures in the presence of external magnetic field. The R2 value of proton depends on volume and surface interaction effects of confining structures/ compartments and hence, the proton in AbMole Folic acid different environments would have different R2 values. Iron deposition causes local distortions of the effective magnetic field which enhances the relaxation rates of diffusing protons resulting in the increase of R2 values. As a part of the middle temporal lobe composing the memory system, the hippocampus is one of the regions which is susceptible to damage from AD. Therefore, we chose hippocampus as the region of interest for measurement of T2 in this study. In this
study, then assess differences in T2 values in the hippocampi between patients with AD and normal controls which can be attributed to different iron accumulation levels in both groups. All the participants were right-handed. These patients underwent a series of neurological tests and a battery of neuropsychological assessments, which AbMole Povidone iodine included the MiniMental State Examination and the Acitivity of Daily Living, to rule out other causes of cognitive impairment. We choose the MMSE score to indicate the cognitive level and not the ADL as the ADL test needs much more time than the MMSE and has less specificity with cognitive level.