Eye abnormalities could help reveal early-stage Alzheimer's.
Researchers used a rodent model and high-resolution imaging technique to link structural changes of the eye to the disease, a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center news release reported. The team also looked at post-mortem retina samples of
"Detecting changes in the brain that indicate Alzheimer's disease can be an extremely challenging task," Shaomei Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Regenerative Medicine Institute and Department of Biomedical Sciences, said in the news release. "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."
The team saw changes in the retinal pigment epithelial layer and choroidal layer of the eye that were related to early-stage Alzheimer's. These changes also come with some vision impairment.
"Greater magnitude in these eye abnormalities may mean a greater chance of a patient having Alzheimer's disease," Alexander Ljubimov, PhD, director of the Eye Program within the Regenerative Medicine Institute and co-author of the study, said in the news release. "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."
In the future the team hopes to further study how these ocular changes relate to the brain.
"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," Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute and a co-author on the study, said in the news release.
