The use of non-invasive eye imaging would be effective in detecting pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Alzheimzr’s disease. The experimental technology, developed by Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision, analyzes the retina using techniques to identify deposits of beta-amyloid proteins that mirror those in the brain.
Accumulations of neurotoxic beta-amyloid proteins (a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease) can be detected with positron emission tomography, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis, but they are invasive, inconvenient, and expensive, making them impractical for routine screening and follow-up assessment for disease.
A minimally invasive and inexpensive technique for detecting amyloid plaques in the retina of patients
Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, USA and NeuroVision Imaging LLC, have developed a non-invasive and inexpensive mechanism to observe amyloid plaques in the retina of patients. The protocol consists of injecting a fluorescent substance into the eye, having a very strong affinity for beta amyloid proteins. Scientists then looked at the retina using a device (a retinograph) to identify spots of fluorescence revealing the presence of amyloid plaques in the back of the eye.
During their research, they found that these plaques are 4.7 times more frequent in the retina of Alzheimer’s patients than in that of healthy patients.
To confirm their results, the researchers tested this technique on 23 patients who died from Alzheimer’s and compared them to 14 other “healthy” people. The results were identical.
“This is the first study demonstrating the potential of a non-invasive retinal examination linked to beta-amyloid plaques in living patients. The results of this study strongly suggest that retinal imaging may serve as a surrogate biomarker. to investigate and monitor the Alzheimer’s disease “said Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, associate professor of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Neurosurgical Institute and co-founder of NeuroVision.
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