Understanding the role of amyloid on cerebral microvasculature in Alzheimer’s disease: A pre‐clinical Intra Voxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) study

Vascular perturbation is emerging as an important contribution to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) trajectory. However, the role of microvascular alterations in pathophysiological processes remains unclear. We hypothesized a direct link between β‐amyloid (Aβ) and the cerebral microvasculature, leading to vascular stress, deteriorated blood‐brain barrier, and impaired microcirculation. The early detection of changes in the microvasculature can be used as an early biomarker to study underlying disease mechanisms. This study used intra‐voxel incoherent motion (IVIM) technique to quantitatively map functional capillaries related to blood volume fraction as surrogate marker for microvasculature alterations in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model.