Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition - Advanced MRI Biomarkers of Brain Aging, Vascular Health, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Advanced MRI Biomarkers of Brain Aging, Vascular Health, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Power Pitch

Neuro A

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Power Pitch Theatre 1

16:00 - 17:36

Moderators: Gerhard Drenthen & Kavita Singh

Session Number: 551-03

No CME/CE Credit

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This session focuses on advanced neuroimaging approaches to investigate brain aging and neurodegeneration. Presentations span cerebrovascular and glymphatic function, white matter microstructure, metabolic and molecular biomarkers, and therapeutic effects across Alzheimer’s disease, metabolic disorders, and normative aging, emphasizing multimodal MRI insights into mechanisms underlying cognitive decline and resilience.

Skill Level: Intermediate

16:00		551-03-001. Impaired Cerebral Oxygen Metabolism and Cognition in Type-2 Diabetes is Reversed by Novel GIP/GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy Sharvinee Ragunatha Rao, Yousif Al-Khoury, Mohamad Elsharydah, Anujit Saha, Ali Rezaei, Jeffrey Schaffert, Jack Kaufman, Jennine Leary, Alison Jin, Jaime Almandoz, Claudine Gauthier, Binu Thomas University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States of America Impact: This is the first study to independently link high hemoglobin-A1c to low oxygen extraction fraction. This implicates impaired cerebral oxygen metabolism in Type 2 diabetes mellitus-associated cognitive decline, supporting GIP/GLP-1RA therapy as a promising treatment to reverse this neuropathology.
16:02		551-03-002. Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults is Associated with Increased Blood Brain Barrier Permeability and Reduced Cognitive Function Anujit Saha, Wen Shi, Mohamad Elsharydah, Jeffrey Schaffert, Jack Kaufman, Jennine Leary, Alison Jin, Jaime Almandoz, Hanzhang Lu, Binu Thomas University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States of America Impact: This study is the first to assess water blood–brain barrier permeability in type 2 diabetes. We also demonstrate preliminary evidence that GLP-1 therapy may simultaneously improve metabolic control, BBB integrity, and cognition, informing therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s risk reduction.
16:04		551-03-003. ASL perfusion and brain age reveal age-dependent cerebrovascular and cognitive effects in acute mild traumatic brain injury Yeva Prysiazhniuk, Mathijs Dijsselhof, Dominik Grabetz, Kathrin Schmid, Sebastian Reile, Luise Schaefer, Pia Hoelsken, Felipa Szueszner, Raffael Cintean, Florian Gebhard, Borna Relja, Ambros Beer, Kornelia Kreiser, Meinrad Beer, Alberto Villagran Asiares, Saskia Rusche, Wibeke Nordhøy, Lars Westlye, Jan Petr, Inga Koerte, Joachim Strobel, Nico Sollmann University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany Impact: This study may show that cerebrovascular responses to acute mild TBI are age-dependent, as revealed by ASL-derived CBF and brain age metrics, supporting their potential role as early biomarkers of injury severity and recovery.
16:06		551-03-004. Non-invasive MRI of choroid plexus vascular function Peiying Liu, Lori Donaldson, Beini Hu, Gagan Wig, Hanzhang Lu University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States of America Impact: Our technique, based on the detection of MRI signal changes in response to vasoactive challenges, may provide a clinically feasible tool for assessing ChP vascular function in health and disease conditions.
16:08		551-03-005. Late-Life Emergence of APOE ε4 Effects on Choroid Plexus Volume and DTI-ALPS Index: A UK Biobank Study of 38,152 Participants Yuichi Morita, Koji Kamagata, Rui Zou, Kaito Takabayashi, Takafumi Kitagawa, Yuya Tanaka, Moto Nakaya, Akifumi Hagiwara, Noriko Sato, Christina Andica, Junko Kikuta, Akashi Toshiaki, Akihiko Wada, Osamu Abe, Shigeki Aoki Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Impact: APOE ε4/ε4 effects on CPV enlargement emerge after age 69. Although ALPS index showed no significant genotype effect, the directionally consistent lower trend in ε4/ε4 carriers parallels the CPV findings, suggesting ε4/ε4 may exacerbate brain clearance impairment in late life.
16:10		551-03-006. Glymphatic Dysfunction and Lifespan Trajectories Across Neuropsychiatric Disorders Revealed by DTI-ALPS Zhilang Qiu, Chao Wang, Akila Weerasekera, Margaux Ameer, Abigail Stein, Dost Öngür, Fei Du McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States of America Impact: This study integrates AD, SZ, and CHR within a lifespan framework, revealing shared and distinct patterns of glymphatic dysfunction. Findings provide insights into neuropsychiatric developmental pathways, and suggest DTI-ALPS as a potential biomarker for monitoring neuropsychiatric disease mechanisms and progression.
16:12		551-03-007. Longitudinal MRI Assessment of Lecanemab in Alzheimer’s Disease: Structural and CSF-Glymphatic Pathway Remodeling Yuxin Li, Tao Gong, Jiaxiang xin, guangbin wang Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Provincial Hospital), Jinan, China Impact: This study provides evidence lecanemab induces coordinated structural remodeling of the brain and CSF–glymphatic pathways in early Alzheimer’s disease, indicating that MRI-derived perivascular space and choroid plexus metrics could serve as potential biomarkers for monitoring neurofluidic restoration and therapeutic response.
16:14		551-03-008. Association of regional white matter hyperintensities with age-related neuropathologies. Gulam Mahfuz Chowdhury, Khalid Saifullah, ABDUR RAQUIB RIDWAN, Md Tahmid Yasar, Julie Schneider, Konstantinos Arfanakis Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, United States of America Impact: Establishing the WMH patterns associated with different age-related neuropathologies may assist in the development of MRI-based markers for these pathologies as well as models of disease progression.
16:16		551-03-009. Hierarchical Patterns of White Matter Microstructural Aging Across Brain Networks, Connection Types, and Tract Lengths Abhijot Sidhu, Udayveer Sangha, Kaue Duarte, Sean McGarry, Jaya Bansal, Talal Shahid, Cheryl McCreary, Andrea Protzner, Bradley Goodyear, Richard Frayne University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada Impact: This study advances the current understanding of the white-matter structural architecture supporting large-scale brain networks in aging. We identify network-, topology-, and length-specific patterns of white-matter aging that may underlie previously reported changes in functional connectivity observed in healthy adults.
16:18		551-03-010. Mapping Functional Organisation of White Matter and Linking it with Age and Cognition Yifei Sun, James Shine, Robert Sanders, Sharon Naismith, Fernando Calamante, Jinglei Lv The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Impact: This work reveals the functional organisation of white matter through Track DFC. Age-sensitive pathways are identified by direct associations with aging and by mediating cognitive decline, advancing understanding of structure–function interactions and mechanisms underlying healthy brain aging.
16:20		551-03-011. Lower brain copper levels in the older adult are linked to lower gray matter volume and higher white matter hyperintensities Md Tahmid Yasar, Arnold Evia, Puja Puja Agarwal, Sonal Agrawal, David Bennett, Julie Schneider, Konstantinos Arfanakis Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, United States of America Impact: We demonstrated that lower brain copper levels in older adults are associated with gray matter atrophy and increased white matter hyperintensities, independent of age-related neuropathologies and demographics, suggesting additional mechanisms of brain abnormalities linked to copper dyshomeostasis.
16:22		551-03-012. Relaxation-diffusion MRI biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Ning Hua, Lee Goldstein, RICHARD RUSHMORE, Yogesh Rathi, Lipeng Ning Boston University Medical Campus, Boston, United States of America Impact: This study demonstrates that relaxation-diffusion MRI can noninvasively detect Alzheimer’s-related brain changes, enabling simultaneous assessment of pathological protein aggregation and microvascular leakage. This approach holds promise to improve early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and evaluation of therapeutic interventions in AD.
16:24		551-03-013. Cholinergic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction Predict Dementia Conversion in Alzheimer’s Disease: A 3D-MRSI/PET Study Yue Guan, Miao Zhang, Shuoyun Feng, Wenli Li, Yudu Li, Yibo Zhao, Wen Jin, Yaoyu Zhang, Wenqi Zhang, Xinyu Guo, Huixiang Zhuang, Zhi-Pei Liang, Yao Li National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China Impact: Using longitudinal 3D-MRSI/PET, we identified neuroinflammation and metabolic disruption within cholinergic pathways. Together, these markers could serve as an early prognostic biomarker of dementia conversion and guide patient stratification and the design of targeted therapies.
16:26		551-03-014. Disease progression modelling of white matter microstructure in Alzheimer’s disease: temporal ordering and predictive utility Christopher Parker, Philip Weston, Gary Zhang, Neil Oxtoby UCL, London, United Kingdom Impact: We show the temporal ordering of diffusion biomarkers of white matter is earlier, and ability to predict initial decline greater, than grey matter volumes, within a data-driven staging of Alzheimer’s disease. Results inform stratification systems for clinical trials and treatments.
16:28		551-03-015. Linking MRI with Spatial Transcriptomics to Detect Molecular Alterations in Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Brain Xinyue Han, Jie Chen, Zhuoheng Liu, Juan Liu, Nataliya Tod, Nian Wang University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States of America Impact: Integrating diffusion MRI (dMRI) and QSM with spatial transcriptomics reveals molecular mechanisms underlying MRI contrasts in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), enabling non-invasive insights into gene expression changes, advancing imaging biomarkers for neurodegeneration, and facilitating early diagnosis and therapeutic development.
16:30		551-03-016. How does brain iron distribution differ in "SuperAgers” vs. normal aging? Fábio Otsuka, Bruno Pastorello, Giovanni Cerri, Paulo Lotufo, Isabela Benseñor, Claudia Suemoto, Alessandra Goulart, Claudia Leite, Maria Garcia Otaduy Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil Impact: Identifying how SuperAgers differ from typically aging individuals is key to uncovering neuroprotective mechanisms. Our findings of lower iron reinforce the hypothesis that brain iron metabolism plays an important role in aging and cognition and can be studied by QSM.
16:32		551-03-017. Fast, SAR-efficient Neuromelanin Imaging and Automated Segmentation of the Locus Coeruleus in AD-Related Disorders(ADRD) Se-Hong Oh, Ken Sakaie, Douglas Martin, Gawon Lee, Katherine Koenig, Brian Appleby, Muralidhar Pallaki, Karin Mente, Peijun Chen, Jagan Pillai, Mark Lowe Hankuk university of Foreign Studies, gyeonggi-do, Korea, Republic of Impact: EP-vpMT delivers 3-minute, high-SNR neuromelanin imaging with automated LC segmentation and pons-normalized quantification, showing a consistent LC signal reduction trend in AD-related disorders. These findings support fast, reproducible LC assessment as a feasible biomarker for early neurodegeneration.
16:34		551-03-018. Static and dynamic measures of lateral ventricle volume robustly predict cognitive decline in older adults Hu Cheng, Daniel Kennedy, Colleen Hughes, Roberto French, Anne Krendl Indiana University, Bloomington, United States of America Impact: Our findings identify static and dynamic changes in lateral ventricle volume as sensitive imaging markers of cognitive aging, enabling new approaches to study brain aging, cerebrovascular reactivity, and the early detection of neurodegenerative risk in older adults.