New non-invasive method detects early stages of Alzheimer's disease

Hello, dear followers!

We are writing to share with you an incredible non-invasive approach to detect Alzheimer's disease, well before typical symptoms appear. The approach that we are going to share with you uses MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) that pairs a magnetic nanostructure with an antibody that seeks out the beta Amyloid brain toxins which damage neurons and are responsible for the onset of the disease. 

This approach was carried out by neuroscientist William L.Klein and materials scientists Vinavak P.Dravid from Northwestern University. You can check their full article in the Nature Nanotechnology journal by searching for the title: "Towards non-invasive diagnostic imaging of early-stage Alzheimer's disease."

Currently, there is no method capable of detecting Alzheimer's disease, a disease that affects one out of nine people over the age of 65.With MRI it is possible to see the toxins attached to neurons in the brain. The magnetic nanostructures typically with 10-15 nm in diameter are used as smart nanotechnology carriers with antibodies specifically targeted for Amyloid beta toxins.The accumulated toxins, because of the associated magnetic nanostructures, show up as dark areas in MRI scans of the brain.  

a) Fluorescent Amyloid beta oligomers (green), bound to culture hippocampal neurons, were detected with greater than 90 percent accuracy by the NU4 antibody-magnetic nanostructure probes (red). b) MRI signal in vivo of the hippocampal region of the mouse's brain. In diseased models, the toxin's presence can be clearly seen in the hippocampus in MRI scans of the brain. No dark areas were seen in the hippocampus of the control group. (Adapted from Viola et al., Nature Nanotechnology, 2014) 

In this approach the authors detect something different than conventional technologies: they aim for toxic Amyloid beta oligomers instead of plaques, which occur at a very late stage of the disease when the treatment turns out to be less effective. 

In a diseased brain, Amyloid beta oligomers attack the synapses of neurons, destroying memory, ultimately resulting in neuron death. Oligomers may appear more than a decade before plaques are detected. Thus, Amyloid beta oligomers are believed to be the culprit in the onset of the Alzheimer's disease and subsequent memory loss. 

Despite extraordinary efforts there is no effective drug for Alzheimer’s disease yet. However, similar technologies could aid for the assessment of the effectiveness of many drugs on research or clinical trials. According to Dravid, if a drug is effective then the signal from Amyloid beta could become weakened (with less dark areas), so by using these kinds of technologies it would be possible to determine how well the drug is working.

Now we wonder: how many other diseases could be diagnosed by using such amazing technological breakthrough advances?