According to neuroscientists at the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn, Germany, people who have a high genetic risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease would show alterations in spatial navigation several decades before the first signs of the disease. According to their research published in Science magazine a test based on navigation in a virtual labyrinth would therefore make it possible to determine, from the age of 30, the people most at risk of brain degeneration.
A functional MRI measures brain activity during the test
The German researchers recruited two groups of young adults without symptoms of alzheimer’s disease. One carried a variant of a gene called APOE, known to be a marker for Alzheimer’s disease, while the other group did not carry the gene. All were invited to navigate a virtual arena consisting of blue skies, a few mountains in the distance and a large area of grass on which everyday objects were placed. Test participants had to grab the virtual items while navigating the game and return them to their original place later.
During the experiment, the researchers tracked each participant’s brain activity through functional MRI, a procedure that measures brain activity based on blood flow.
The results show that the high-risk group had navigated the maze differently and had reduced functioning of certain brain cells involved in spatial navigation.
“Our results could provide a new basic framework for preclinical research on Alzheimer’s disease and could provide a neurocognitive explanation for spatial disorientation in Alzheimer’s disease”, explained the researchers in the journal Science.
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