Despite advances in medicine, even in 2024, diagnosing Alzheimer’s before the onset of symptoms and cognitive decline remains a huge challenge. However, steps are being taken in this direction. A recent study conducted in the US revealed the “earliest biomarker” that presages the onset of this disease.
This biomarker observed by scientists heralds the onset of this disease before the characteristic beta-amyloid (βA) plaques accumulate or memory deficits are observed.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, this biomarker consists precisely of the increased activity at the neuronal level, similar to convulsive seizures.
American scientists have noticed that an increase in the activity of brain cells heralds a disease in which neurons die and cognitive abilities fade.
Until now, research has focused precisely on the decline in brain-wide neuronal activity seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
But clinical studies have shown that in the early stages of the disease, patients at risk of developing Alzheimer’s can experience a sudden increase in neuronal activity in certain parts of the brain, detectable on brain scans before any symptoms appear.
In the current study, nearly a third of people carrying genetic variants that predisposed them to Alzheimer’s disease experienced epileptic seizures. Another found that people with Alzheimer’s who show sudden spikes in brain activity tend to be diagnosed with this type of dementia at an earlier age.
The scientists also found a sudden increase in a neuron-specific protein, PSD-95, they said in a statement submitted by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
This protein could represent a new target for research, early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, said study leader Nien-Pei Tsai, professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the said university.
Moreover, increased activity of the protein leads to seizures associated with the early stages of neurodegeneration, and in laboratory tests it was shown that inhibiting the protein in mice slowed the onset and progression of seizure activity.
“Our findings show that PSD-95 is a critical contributor to hyperexcitability in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Nien-Pei Tsai.
“Therefore, we believe that PSD-95 may be an early biomarker to indicate that a patient may have Alzheimer’s disease or a high susceptibility to seizures,” the researchers note in a report published in the journal EMBO Reports.
2024-04-08 21:05:00
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