Data from: Non-invasive imaging of CSF-mediated brain clearance pathways via assessment of perivascular fluid movement with DTI MRI

The glymphatics system describes a CSF-mediated clearance pathway for the removal of potentially harmful molecules, such as amyloid beta, from the brain. As such, its components may represent new therapeutic targets to alleviate aberrant protein accumulation that defines the most prevalent neurodegenerative conditions. Currently, however, the absence of any non-invasive measurement technique prohibits detailed understanding of glymphatic function in the human brain and in turn, it's role in pathology. Here, we present the first non-invasive technique for the assessment of glymphatic inflow by using an ultra-long echo time, low b-value, multi-direction diffusion weighted MRI sequence to assess perivascular fluid movement (which represents a critical component of the glymphatic pathway) in the rat brain. This novel, quantitative and non-invasive approach may represent a valuable biomarker of CSF-mediated brain clearance, working towards the clinical need for reliable and early diagnostic indicators of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.胶质淋巴系统（glymphatics system）是一类由脑脊液（cerebrospinal fluid, CSF）介导的清除通路，负责将大脑内具有潜在危害的分子（如β淀粉样蛋白（amyloid beta））排出体外。因此，该系统的组成成分有望成为新型治疗靶点，用于缓解最常见神经退行性疾病的特征性异常蛋白聚集。然而目前尚无任何无创测量技术，使得人们难以深入了解人脑胶质淋巴系统的功能，进而无法明确其在病理过程中的作用。本研究首次提出了一种用于评估胶质淋巴流入功能的无创技术：通过采用超长回波时间、低b值的多方向扩散加权磁共振成像（diffusion weighted MRI, DWI）序列，评估大鼠脑内的血管周液体运动——这一运动正是胶质淋巴通路的关键组成部分。这种兼具创新性、量化特性且无创的方法，有望成为脑脊液介导的脑清除功能的有效生物标志物，可为阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer's disease）等神经退行性疾病提供可靠的早期临床诊断指标，契合临床实际需求。