Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Early-Stage Alzheimer’s May Be Revealed by
Variations in Eye Structure, Function
The quest continues to find earliest stages of
Alzheimer’s for closer study, drug development
March 18, 2014 – Scientists are turning over every
stone they can find hoping to discover a way to achieve an early detection
of Alzheimer’s disease. Just recently a group claimed success with a
blood test, at least in lab rats. A new group using lab rats, again,
claim the discovery of eye abnormalities that may help reveal features
of early-stage AD.
Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative
Medicine Institute used high-resolution imaging techniques, correlated
with variations of the eye structure, to identify initial indicators of
Alzheimer’s has no known cure and is difficult to
identify, especially in its early stages. There is hope that a
successful means of early discovery will allow for a closer study of the
development of the disease and testing of drugs with the potential to
slow or stop its progress.
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of
dementia, which is characterized by loss of memory and a progressive
decline in cognitive function. To date, more than 26 million people are
estimated to suffer from the disease and the number is expected to
quadruple by 2050. Despite the disease being described over a century
ago, treatment and understanding of the disease remain rather limited.
"Detecting changes in the brain that indicate
Alzheimer's disease can be an extremely challenging task," said Shaomei
Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor in
the Regenerative Medicine Institute and Department of Biomedical
"By using the eye as a window to brain activity and
function, we may be able to diagnose patients sooner and give them more
time to prepare for the future. Options may include earlier enrollment
in clinical trials, developing support networks and dealing with any
financial and legal matters."
Using both animal models and postmortem human
retinas from donors with Alzheimer's disease, researchers found changes
in the retinal pigment epithelial layer, which harbors the supportive
cells located in the back of the eye, and in the thickness of the
choroidal layer that has blood vessels providing nutrients to the
retina. Changes in these two regions were detected using sophisticated,
state-of-the-art imaging and immunological techniques.
With high-resolution, microscopic imaging and
visual acuity measurements, investigators were able to monitor tissue
degeneration in the cell layer and vascular layer at the back of the
eye, as well as decline in visual function, that were strongly
associated with Alzheimer's disease.
"Greater magnitude in these eye abnormalities may
mean a greater chance of a patient having Alzheimer's disease," said
Alexander Ljubimov, PhD, director of the Eye Program within the
Regenerative Medicine Institute and co-author of the study.
"We found that a rat model showed similar signs to
the human ailment in the eye. If true in a larger number of humans,
these findings may be used to study Alzheimer's disease mechanisms and
test potential drugs."
Though additional research is needed to investigate
the mechanisms of these ocular changes in relation to changes in the
brain, investigators hope to ultimately aid early diagnosis of
Alzheimer's disease by studying the most approachable part of the
central nervous system: the eye. Cedars-Sinai has been at the cutting
edge of studies on the eye and Alzheimer's disease with a previous
report showing amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, also
build up in the eye using a similar animal model of the disease.
"It is fascinating that the eye may provide such a
window to the brain and eventually predict diseases such as Alzheimer's,
although more human studies are now needed to confirm this animal work,"
said Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative
Medicine Institute and a co-author on the study. Other members of the
Regenerative Medicine Institute Eye Program, include Yu Chun Tsai, PhD,
a post-doctoral fellow; and Bin Lu, MD, PhD, and Sergey Girman, PhD,
both project scientists.
Additional investigators include Fred N.
Ross-Cisneros and Alfredo A. Sadun, both from the University of Southern
California Keck School of Medicine, and Robert M. Cohen from Emory
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