2023-11-08 20:28:36
Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Becoming More Relevant
Losing yourself and your loved ones to dementia – this nightmare is reality for 1.8 million people in Germany. Researchers have now discovered a decay process that begins decades before the first symptoms appear.
By 2050, an estimated 2.4 to 2.8 million people will be affected by the disease. This is a herculean task for nursing and the healthcare system. The common thing: Alzheimer’s is usually only discovered when the disease is already advanced. Then medication can slow down the progression. However, a cure is currently not possible.
Researchers at Karolinska University in Sweden have now discovered a clear warning signal that occurs 20 years before the first symptoms. To do this, they examined dementia in mice. Result: Animals with dementia had significantly increased energy metabolism in the brain. Specifically, in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for short- and long-term memory. Due to the excessive activity, degradation products accumulated on the nerve cells.
The metabolism goes crazy exactly where typical Alzheimer’s protein deposits later arise. Maria Ankarcrona, a participating researcher, said: “Interestingly, changes in metabolism can be observed before the characteristic insoluble plaques have accumulated in the brain.”
“We have now discovered these changes at an earlier stage,” says the researcher about the new, promising findings. The researchers’ hope is that the metabolic discovery will help, on the one hand, to detect dementia early and, on the other hand, to get the disease under control in this early stage. For example, by using new medications to stabilize the energy metabolism in the brain again.]
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