Metabolic Imaging of Neurological Disease (MIND)

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Probing metabolic dysregulation and altered substrate metabolism in the healthy and disrupted brain using hyperpolarised C labelled substrates

  • IRAS ID

    281106

  • Contact name

    Damian Tyler

  • Contact email

    damian.tyler@dpag.ox.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Oxford

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    6 years, 0 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    This study focuses on the use of a technology known as ’hyperpolarised 13C magnetic resonance imaging’ (a method to look at sugar consumption) to assess changes in sugar consumption in the brain of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) (both phenotypes of MS), in comparison to healthy volunteers. \n\nThis research will push forward our understanding of deranged sugar consumption within the inflamed brain, allowing us to further develop our understanding of the active disease processes in neuropathology. \n\nPatients with MS or CIS will be recruited from the local clinics in the John Radcliffe Hospital, and healthy volunteers will be recruited via adverts placed in staff communications and around the Oxford University Campus and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. \n\nAll participants will undergo a screening visit to assess their baseline health (including blood pressure, height, blood sampling, ECG, age, sex, and weight). Participants will then be invited back for a research scan that may involve up to two hyperpolarised sugar injections, and subsequently invited back for up to 4 further imaging sessions over the course of a two year period. Blood will be sampled during each imaging visit and analysed for lactate dehydrogenase, alanine transferase, urea and electrolytes, immune cell phenotypes, and full blood count. \n\nHealthy participants may be asked to (optionally) fast for up to 24 hours before an imaging visit. \n\nMS/CIS participants will undergo the above screening and imaging, and also undertake disability, neurocognitive, and gait analysis testing. Tests may include the Expanded Disability Status Scale and 9-hole peg test. \n\nAll participants will have their weight measured prior to each imaging session to determine the appropriate volume of hyperpolarised injection.

  • REC name

    South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    20/SC/0441

  • Date of REC Opinion

    20 Jan 2021

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion