Molecular Imaging in Huntington's Disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare monogenic neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene resulting in the formation of intranuclear inclusions of mutated huntingtin. The accumulation of mutated huntingtin leads to loss of GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSNs); subsequently resulting in the development of chorea, cognitive dysfunction and psychiatric symptoms. Premanifest HD gene expansion carriers, provide a unique cohort to examine very early molecular changes, occurring before the development of overt symptoms, to elucidate disease pathophysiology and identify reliable biomarkers of HD progression. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a non-invasive molecular imaging technique allowing the evaluation of specific molecular targets in vivo. Selective PET radioligands provide invaluable tools to investigate the role of the dopaminergic system, brain metabolism, microglial activation, phosphodiesterase 10A, and cannabinoid, GABA, adenosine and opioid receptors in HD. PET has been employed to monitor disease progression aiming to identify a reliable biomarker to predict phenoconversion from premanifest to manifest HD.</p

QUERCETIN-MODIFIED Fe3O4 NANOPARTICLE-BASED MEDICAL IMAGING MODALITY FOR THE MONITORING OF THERAPEUTIC-DRUG DELIVERY

The combination of imaging and therapeutic agents with drug nanocarriers has received great attention due to the number of outstanding applications in nanobiology and nanomedicine. In this respect, the traditional and biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles, such as Fe3O4, play a pivotal role, having a versatile potential in imaging diagnostics, treatments and targeting in drug-delivery systems. In this work, we report on Fe3O4 nanoparticles functionalized with quercetin molecules and show that the conjugation between Fe3O4 nanoparticles and quercetin significantly modifies the fluorescent properties of the nanocomposite. The obtained results offer a reliable tool for image-assisted drug-delivery systems, targeting and penetrating such a delicate area of the human body as a blood-brain barrier.</jats:p