Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Currently, nearly 600,000 Canadians suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. This is estimated to increase to 1.7 million Canadians and 135 million people globally, by 2050. Though there are many underlying genetic and environmental factors influencing this increase, postoperative delirium has been reported to be a stimulus to developing Alzheimer's Disease. Postoperative delirium is the state of confusion felt by patients, particularly the elderly, following the use of anesthesia in surgery. Postoperative delirium has been reported to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease by 12.5-fold. This is becoming increasingly concerning as we observe a rise in geriatric patients requiring major surgery (e.g., hip/knee replacement). The proposed research will improve the understanding of the biochemical relationship between postoperative delirium and Alzheimer's Disease using magnetic resonance technology (e.g., MRI), in turn, improving disease monitoring in patients. As postoperative delirium can result from damage to the sub-cellular structure, mitochondria, this research will use magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging experiments to monitor and determine how its damage can impact the production of vital molecules for brain function. Here, a novel technique that enables biomarkers of concern to be selectively monitored will be adapted for medical-based research for the first time. As patient samples are often difficult to obtain, excised tissue and blood from rodent models will first be used to observe and quantify molecular changes. The goal of this work is to translate the obtained knowledge and devise a method to screen living organisms by monitoring real-time molecular changes using MRI. When applied to patients, this technique will have important impact in improving the detection of early biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease, disease progression and personalized patient care.