“New Cranial Nerve Imaging Technology Paves Way for Early Diagnosis of Dementia”

New cranial nerve imaging technology confirms the possibility of early diagnosis of dementia
Identification of causes of astrocyte acetic acid abnormality and hyperabsorption of dementia

A path to imaging reactive astrocytes in the brain for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease has been opened.

According to the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) on the 18th, the research team led by Director Lee Chang-joon of the Center for Cognitive and Sociality Research along with Professor Mi-Jin Yun of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Severance Hospital (Director Jong-Won Ha) and senior researcher Hoon Ryu at the Center for Brain Science at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, Director Seok-Jin Yoon) conducted research on Alzheimer’s disease in the brain. The team succeeded in imaging reactive astrocytes and the resulting degradation of nerve cell metabolism, and revealed the mechanism.

It is well known that Alzheimer’s dementia, one of the representative causes of senile dementia, is accompanied by a brain inflammatory response. When a brain inflammatory response occurs, one of the first phenomena to appear is reactive astrocytes, in which the size and function of stellate non-neuronal cells, which account for the largest number in the brain, change.

The Center for Cognition and Sociality reported in a previous study that reactive astrocytes expressed the enzyme MAO-B to produce the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA from putrescine, resulting in memory decline. Recently, the existence of the urea circuit that generates elements in astrocytes was confirmed, and it was identified that the activated urea circuit promotes dementia.

However, despite the clinical importance of reactive astrocytes, a cranial nerve imaging technique capable of significantly imaging, observing and diagnosing these cells at the clinical level has not yet been developed.

The research team used positron emission tomography (PET) images using carbon 11-acetate (11C-acetate) and fluorine 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) together to find reactive astrocytes in Alzheimer’s patients and nerve cells caused by them. showed that it was possible to image the glucose metabolism degradation of

PET is a technology that measures positrons emitted by radiopharmaceuticals that selectively bind to specific substances and shows physiological, chemical, and functional three-dimensional images of the human body. 11C-Acetate was mainly used for cancer diagnosis by imaging cells that absorb acetic acid, a tracer substance, and 18F-FDG was used for motoring brain activity by tracking glucose.

As a result of confirming the reactive astrocyte-derived animal model through PET imaging, the research team found that reactive astrocyte activation activates acetic acid metabolism in reactive astrocytes and induces inhibition of glucose metabolism in peripheral neurons. In addition, multilateral analyzes including immunohistochemical and electrophysiological methods along with PET images revealed that acetic acid promotes reactive astrocytes, induces the production of putrescine and GABA, and induces dementia.

So far, amyloid beta has been known to be the main cause of dementia. However, PET imaging that targets this has limitations in diagnosing patients in clinical practice. In addition, all dementia treatments that aim to remove amyloid beta have failed so far.

The study showed the possibility of early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease by revealing that PET imaging using 11C-Acetate and 18F-FDG can be used to diagnose reactive astrocytes and functionally inhibited neurons at the clinical level. By identifying the mechanism of promoting reactive astrocytes by acetic acid and the MCT1 transporter, a new target for dementia treatment was presented.

[전국매일신문] Daejeon/Reporter Jeong Eun-mo
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