FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING FINDINGS IN HEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS AT RISK OF ALZHEIMER's DISEASE.

FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING FINDINGS IN HEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS AT RISK OF ALZHEIMER's DISEASE. Ageing Res Rev. 2017 Mar 22;: Authors: Habib M, Mak E, Gabel S, Su L, Williams G, Waldman A, Wells K, Ritchie K, Ritchie C, O'Brien JT Abstract It is well established that the neurodegenerative process of Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins many years before symptom onset. This preclinical phase provides a crucial time-window for therapeutic intervention, though this requires biomarkers that could evaluate the efficacy of future disease-modification treatments in asymptomatic individuals. The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of studies characterizing the temporal sequence of the earliest functional and structural brain imaging changes in AD. These efforts have focused on studying individuals who are highly vulnerable to develop AD, such as those with familial genetic mutations, susceptibility genes (i.e. apolipoprotein epsilon-4 allele), and/or a positive family history of AD. In this paper, we review the rapidly growing literature of functional imaging changes in cognitively intact individuals who are middle-aged: positron emission tomography (PET) studies of amyloid deposition, glucose metabolism, as well as arterial spin labeling (ASL), task-dependent, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies. The prevailing evidence points to early brain functional changes in the r...
Source: Ageing Research Reviews - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Ageing Res Rev Source Type: research