Schreiner, Simon J.Liu, XinyangGietl, Anton F.Wyss, MichaelSteininger, Stefanie C.Gruber, EsmeraldaTreyer, ValerieMeier, Irene B.Kälin, Andrea M.Leh, Sandra E.Buck, AlfredNitsch, Roger M.Pruessmann, Klaas P.Hock, ChristophUnschuld, Paul G.2014-10-012014Schreiner, S. J., X. Liu, A. F. Gietl, M. Wyss, S. C. Steininger, E. Gruber, V. Treyer, et al. 2014. “Regional Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) at 7 Tesla correlates with amyloid beta in hippocampus and brainstem of cognitively normal elderly subjects.” Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 6 (1): 240. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2014.00240. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00240.1663-4365http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12987315Background: Accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) may occur during healthy aging and is a risk factor for Alzheimer Disease (AD). While individual Aβ-accumulation can be measured non-invasively using Pittsburgh Compund-B positron emission tomography (PiB-PET), Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) is a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequence, capable of indicating heterogeneous age-related brain pathologies associated with tissue-edema. In the current study cognitively normal elderly subjects were investigated for regional correlation of PiB- and FLAIR intensity. Methods: Fourteen healthy elderly subjects without known history of cognitive impairment received 11C-PiB-PET for estimation of regional Aβ-load. In addition, whole brain T1-MPRAGE and FLAIR-MRI sequences were acquired at high field strength of 7 Tesla (7T). Volume-normalized intensities of brain regions were assessed by applying an automated subcortical segmentation algorithm for spatial definition of brain structures. Statistical dependence between FLAIR- and PiB-PET intensities was tested using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rho), followed by Holm–Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Results: Neuropsychological testing revealed normal cognitive performance levels in all participants. Mean regional PiB-PET and FLAIR intensities were normally distributed and independent. Significant correlation between volume-normalized PiB-PET signals and FLAIR intensities resulted for Hippocampus (right: rho = 0.86; left: rho = 0.84), Brainstem (rho = 0.85) and left Basal Ganglia vessel region (rho = 0.82). Conclusions: Our finding of a significant relationship between PiB- and FLAIR intensity mainly observable in the Hippocampus and Brainstem, indicates regional Aβ associated tissue-edema in cognitively normal elderly subjects. Further studies including clinical populations are necessary to clarify the relevance of our findings for estimating individual risk for age-related neurodegenerative processes such as AD.en-USPiB-PETMRI7 Teslaamyloid betaFLAIRagingJournal Article2014-10-0110.3389/fnagi.2014.00240