In many neurodegenerative conditions, changes in the brain occur before symptoms arise. But now, researchers in Japan have found a new way to distinguish these conditions in their early stages based on changes in patterns of brain activity.
In a recently published study in Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disordersresearchers at the University of Tsukuba revealed changes in the brain’s neural network that could function as a biomarker for degenerative neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia – abnormal protein deposits in the brain.
Mild cognitive impairment may be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, small cerebrovascular disease, Lewy body dementia, or other neurocognitive disorders. As the clinical course of the disease and treatment options vary among these conditions, there is a need to discriminate between them in their early stages, which the University of Tsukuba researchers sought to address.
Although several biomarkers for MCI have been identified, they generally require specialized neuroimaging equipment, so they decided to use conventional MRI to compare network deficits in individuals with MCI due to Alzheimer’s disease and MCI. dementia with Lewy bodies.
To do this, the researchers used a similarity-based approach, which looks for similarities between cortical structures as a measure of brain connectivity. It examined microstructural changes in the brain in individuals with MCI with Alzheimer’s, those with MCI with Lewy bodies, and control participants.
In mild cognitive impairment patients with Alzheimer’s, they found significant abnormalities in the network in specific regions of the brain. In patients with mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies, we found similar changes but in other parts of the brain.
You can read the study at Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.
