Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Distinguishing ‘Senior Moments’ from Alzheimer’s
Leads to Key Brain Passage
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Tommie
Burns caresses the cheek of his wife of 65 years, who has
late-stage Alzheimer’s. Their daughter Diana participated in a
UCI study that identified an elusive brain passage believed to
indicate the nature of memory loss. |
‘… definitely an ‘aha’ moment when we knew we had
finally found it:’ Mike Yassa, UCI researcher – may lead to early
diagnosis of AD
Aug. 10, 2010 - With the help of adult volunteers
up to age 89, UC Irvine researchers have identified for the first time
in humans a long-hidden part of the brain called the "perforant path."
Scientists have struggled for decades to locate the tiny passage, which
is believed to deteriorate gradually as part of normal aging and far
more quickly as a result of Alzheimer’s disease.
“The nice thing about this is we may be able to
predict Alzheimer’s very early,” said Craig Stark, UCI associate
professor of neurobiology & behavior.
That’s what prompted Diana Burns of Anaheim to
participate in the study. In late 2008, when she forgot yet again where
she’d put her purse, and then couldn’t remember why she was in the
laundry room, Burns decided she had to know: Was she, like her aging
mother, going to be a victim of the debilitating loss of brain function
known as Alzheimer’s disease?
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Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
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“When you’re a caregiver for somebody with
Alzheimer’s, you always wonder if it’s going to happen to you,” said
Burns, who had quit her job to stay home the day her mother was found
unconscious and bleeding half a mile from their house, with no idea how
she got there.
“I was becoming concerned because I myself was
forgetting things, so I thought, ‘Now is the time to find out.’”
Burns, 64, searched online for human clinical
trials and found UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.
Soon Stark, the center’s interim director, and his staff had her
ensconced in their big MRI machine.
The UCI researchers developed and used a new
ultrahigh-resolution technique – outlined in a paper published June 28
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – to
electronically peer through dense matter near the brain’s hippocampus in
search of the perforant path.
The passageway is basically a bundle of nerve
fibers, lined up like straws, connecting a region called the entorhinal
cortex to the seahorse-shaped hippocampus.
By monitoring the brains of Burns and others via
their ultrahigh-resolution technique – known as diffusion tensor imaging
– the UCI team was able to detect water molecules moving in the exact
area where they knew the passage had to be. The scientists then
painstakingly tracked the progress of the molecules along the length of
the fiber bundle, thereby identifying the perforant path.
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UCI study volunteer Diana Burns (right)
keeps an eye on her mother, Irma, who has late-stage
Alzheimer’s. Burns has experienced episodes of
forgetfulness, but researchers found no evidence of dementia
in her brain. Photo: Steve Zylius / University
Communications |
“There was definitely an ‘aha’ moment when we knew
we had finally found it,” said Mike Yassa, postdoctoral researcher and
lead author of the paper.
They were also able to measure the strength of the
passageway, confirming that in normal brains it weakens gradually with
age, reducing the capacity to quickly recall details but not wiping out
memory.
The study was supported by the National Science
Foundation and the National Institute on Aging. With additional funding,
the UCI team is now examining people with mild cognitive impairment –
often the first stage of Alzheimer’s. They expect to see far faster
deterioration of the perforant path. Such a finding could aid the
testing of new medicines.
“Let’s say you’re a drug company, and you think
you’ve got a potentially effective treatment for slowing Alzheimer’s,”
said Stark. “You want to try it on people in the most preliminary stages
of that disease, not those just experiencing normal aging.”
So what about Burns? Fortunately, the scientists
detected no signs of dementia. Her data helped create a baseline image
of a normal, aging brain. “I’m healthier than a horse,” she joked,
speaking via cell phone from a quilt show, where she was enjoying a rare
day off from caring for her mother.
Burns is happy she volunteered for the trials –
both because she got answers about her own memory and because the
research may help others. “I couldn’t donate money,” she said, “but I
could donate time.”
>> Photos by Steve Zylius / University
Communications/UC Irvine
