UC scientists identify brain region that may show early changes in Alzheimer's disease
The breakthrough paves the way for developing and testing therapies to reduce neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's.
English version: Diana Taborda
A multidisciplinary research team from the University of Coimbra (UC) and the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC) - coordinated by Miguel Castelo-Branco (UC) and Isabel Santana (CHUC) - has discovered a triple hotspot of brain pathology in Alzheimer's disease. The discovery could have major implications for future therapies as it clearly identifies an early brain target involved in memory loss that can be directly focussed on and prioritised in new therapeutic trials.
Miguel Castelo-Branco, researcher from the Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research of the Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health of the University of Coimbra, reveals that the discovery opens the way "to the development and testing of therapies aimed at reducing neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease".
The identified brain region is called the posterior cingulum and shows unique tripartite alterations in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease: neuronal inflammation, amyloid binding and apparently compensatory neuronal activity. "The region identified is critical, as it serves as a pivot in short and long-term memory processes that we know are crucially affected in Alzheimer's disease," stresses the University of Coimbra researcher.
This discovery in the human brain was demonstrated in vivo, through a set of advanced brain and functional imaging techniques: dual PET (which measures neuroinflammation and amyloid deposition in the same patient) and functional MRI to measure brain activity in memory tasks. This study involved participants in very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and healthy people with the same sociodemographic characteristics.
Nádia Canário and Lília Jorge, the first authors of the study, and Ricardo Martins, researchers of the Centre for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research of the UC Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health, were also involved in the research.
The results of the research are available in the scientific article “Dual PET-fMRI reveals a link between neuroinflammation, amyloid binding and compensatory task-related brain activity in Alzheimer’s disease”, now published in the Journal "Communications Biology": https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03761-7
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