Plaque build-up in your brain may be more harmful than having Alzheimer's gene
October 15, 2012 in Neuroscience
A new study shows that having a high amount of beta amyloid or "plaques" in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease may cause steeper memory decline in mentally healthy older people than does having the APOE ɛ4 allele, also associated with the disease. The study is published in the October 16, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"Our results show that plaques may be a more important factor in determining which people are at greater risk for cognitive impairment or other memory diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said study author Yen Ying Lim, MPsych, with the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. "Unfortunately, testing for the APOE genotype is easier and much less costly than conducting amyloid imaging."
For the study, 141 people with an average age of 76 who were free of any problems in memory and thinking underwent PET brain scans and were tested for the APOE gene. Their memory and thinking was then tracked over the following year and a half, using a set of computer-based cognitive assessments that were based on playing card games and remembering word lists.
The study found that after a year and a half, people who had more brain plaques at the start of the study had up to 20 percent greater decline on the computer based assessments of memory than did those who had fewer brain plaques. The study also found that while carriers of the APOE ε4 allele also showed greater decline on the memory assessments than those who did not have the allele, carrying the ε4 allele did not change the decline in memory related to the plaques.
"Our finding that brain plaque-related memory decline can occur while people still have normal memory and thinking shows that these plaque-related brain changes can be detected and measured while older people are still healthy. This provides an enormous opportunity for understanding the development of early Alzheimer's disease and even a sound basis for the assessment of plaque-targeting therapies," said Lim.
Journal reference:
Neurology
Provided by
American Academy of Neurology
-
Active lifestyle associated with less Alzheimer disease-related brain change among persons with APOE epsilon4 genotype
Jan 16, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Alzheimer's vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment
Apr 04, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
People with early Alzheimer's disease may be more likely to have lower BMI
Nov 21, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Education protects against pre-Alzheimer's memory loss
Oct 20, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Malfunctioning protein a cause of Alzheimer's plaques
Jun 30, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Pressure-volume curve: Elastic Recoil Pressure don't make sense
6 hours ago
-
If you became brain-dead, would you want them to pull the plug?
22 hours ago
-
MRI bill question
May 15, 2013
-
Ratio of Hydrogen of Oxygen in Dessicated Animal Protein
May 13, 2013
-
Alcohol and acetaminophen
May 13, 2013
-
Marie Curie's leukemia
May 13, 2013
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests
Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or ...
Neuroscience
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Temporal processing in the olfactory system
The neural machinery underlying our olfactory sense continues to be an enigma for neuroscience. A recent review in Neuron seeks to expand traditional ideas about how neurons in the olfactory bulb might encode information about ...
Neuroscience
19 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Melon focus headband turns to Kickstarter for rollout plans
(Medical Xpress)—What if the quality of your work depends more on your focus on the piano keys or canvas or laptop than your musical or painting or computing skills? If target users can be convinced, they ...
Neuroscience
19 hours ago |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
|
Deep brain stimulation: A fix when the drugs don't work
Neurological disorders can have a devastating impact on the lives of sufferers and their families.
Neuroscience
May 17, 2013 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
Brain makes call on which ear is used for cell phone
If you're a left-brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a newly published study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Neuroscience
May 16, 2013 |
2 / 5 (2) |
0
|
AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon
Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.
Now we know why old scizophrenia medicine works on antibiotics-resistant bacteria
In 2008 researchers from the University of Southern Denmark showed that the drug thioridazine, which has previously been used to treat schizophrenia, is also a powerful weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as ...
23 dead in initiation rites in South Africa
(AP)—Twenty-three youths have died in the past nine days at initiation ceremonies that include circumcisions and survival tests, South African police said Friday.
Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brain
Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. Multiple factors can influence both the type and degree of neurocognitive abnormalities ...
College women exceed NIAAA drinking guidelines more frequently than college men
In order to avoid harms associated with alcohol consumption, in 2009 the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism issued guidelines that define low-risk drinking. These guidelines differ for men and women: no more ...
Study identifies new approach to improving treatment for MS and other conditions
(Medical Xpress)—Working with lab mice models of multiple sclerosis (MS), UC Davis scientists have detected a novel molecular target for the design of drugs that could be safer and more effective than current FDA-approved ...