The cause for Alzheimer's disease is still unknown. Researchers have been extensively devoting time and experiments to determine where and how the dementia starts.
Published in the journal Radiology, a new study sheds light on the possible triggers of early Alzheimer's disease---linking it to leakages found in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of the patient. Researchers made use of contrast-enhanced MRI and noted that the damaged BBB may eventually lead to the brain's collapse and development of dementia.
According to Science Daily, the BBB is found in the cerebrovascular wall that separates the bloodstream from the brain and is important to maintain brain tissue health. A histogram was made by researchers from comparison of the BBB leakages of 16 early Alzheimer's disease patients with 17 healthy adults of the same age.
The BBB leakages were significantly high among early Alzheimer's disease patients and were widely distributed in the cerebrum. The brain's gray matter and cortex had a huge volume of brain tissue leakage and only very little BBB damages in the white matter (via Science Daily).
To strengthen the study's validity, the analysis model was added with diabetes and other non-cerebral vascular diseases. The resulting findings did not change, which validates more the link between BBB leakages and early Alzheimer's disease (via Science Daily).
Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Ezriel Kornel, who wasn't part of the research team criticized the findings. He said that it's still unclear whether the leakage is a result or a cause of the Alzheimer's disease (via Medline Plus).
As per Alzheimer's Association, 5 percent of more than 5 million Alzheimer disease' patients in the U.S. are diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease. If you are experiencing noticeable memory loss, a consultation with a physician is recommended.
You can get Alzheimer's disease as early as forty years old. What activities are you doing to prevent memory loss? Feel free to share any tips on the Comments section below.
