Non-inherited Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form and usually affects older people; while the inherited form – also known as early onset Alzheimer’s – is much rarer and strikes people much earlier in life, sometimes as young as 30 or 40. A new study led by Washington University in St. Louis discovered that there are networks in the brain affected in a similar way by both forms of the disease.
Senior author Beau Ances, associate professor of neurology at Washington University’s School of Medicine, said: “The brain networks affected by inherited Alzheimer’s disease in a 30-year-old are very similar to the networks affected by uninherited Alzheimer’s disease in a 60-, 70- or 80-year-old. This affirms that what we learn by studying non-inherited Alzheimer’s, which appears at younger ages, will help us better understand and treat more common forms of the disease.”
The feature both forms of the disease have in common is what is called “functional connectivity”, where the activity levels of networked brain regions rise and fall in sync. Scientists believe that this type of coordination helps the brain regions to work together, besides to not clog each other during mental activity.
Prof. Ances said they found that the decline of functional connectivity appears to play a role in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease. However, this is not useful for an early diagnosis.
While this results may not help with for that purpose, what they suggest, says Prof. Ances, is that “functional connectivity may help us track the progression of Alzheimer’s in patients who are first diagnosed when they’re beginning to show early signs of dementia.”
Through: Medical News Today
