Targeting Alzheimer amyloid plaques in vivo

The only definitive diagnosis for Alzheimer disease (AD) at present is postmortem observation of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in brain sections. Radiolabeled amyloid-beta peptide (A beta), which has been shown to label neuritic plaques in vitro, therefore could provide a diagnostic tool if it also labels neuritic plaques in vivo following intravenous injection. In this study we show that the permeability of A beta at the blood-brain barrier can be increased by at least twofold through covalent modification with the naturally occurring polyamine, putrescine. We also show that, following intravenous injection, radiolabeled, putrescine-modified A beta labels amyloid deposits in vivo in a transgenic mouse model of AD, as well as in vitro in human AD brain sections. This technology, when applied to humans, may be used to detect plaques in vivo, allowing early diagnosis of the disease and therapeutic intervention before cognitive decline occurs.