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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Cogn Sci. 2021 Nov 16;26(1):38–52. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.10.009

Figure I. Locus coeruleus magnetic resonance imaging (LC-MRI) in healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease.

Figure I.

(A) Orientation of a typical locus coeruleus-sensitive sequence covering the brainstem (left). The localization of the locus coeruleus, bordering the fourth ventricle, is highlighted in red on an axial slice of standard anatomical scan (middle, upper panel). In LC-MRI, the locus coeruleus can be detected as a cluster of bright, hyperintense voxels (middle, lower panel) (taken with permission from [122]). (B) In neurodegenerative diseases, noradrenergic cells decline. Lower in-vivo LC-MRI contrast in autosomal-dominant Alzheimer’s disease (upper panel) corresponds to noradrenergic neurodegeneration in participants who died with the same disease-causing mutation (A431E). In particular, Hematoxylin and Eosin staining reveals locus coeruleus depigmentation (i.e., absence of the dark, granular neuromelanin). In addition, immunostained slides with anti-tau (AT8) show neurofibrillary tangles within noradrenergic neurons as well as the presence of tau positive threads (red) (reproduced, with permission, from [115,122]).