Universit tsmedizin Berlin, Universit tsklinikum Bonn, andDeutsches Zentrum f r Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen in Bonnsucceeded for the first time in demonstrating that even in merelysubjective cases of memory deterioration changes may be visible incertain brain structures. The study, published in the current issueof the Archives of General Psychiatry on August 1, supports themodel whereby subjective memory impairment can be the firstmanifestation of Alzheimer's disease . Although not every individual with subjective memory impairmentdevelops Alzheimer's disease, almost every patient with Alzheimer'sdisease initially develops subjective memory impairment that hasnot been possible to objectify until now. Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent cause of dementia . The key to dementia prevention is diagnosis as early as possible.For some years now it has been a confirmed fact that in individualswho already have a slight objective memory impairment it ispossible to diagnose the onset of Alzheimer's disease by means ofimaging procedures and cerebrospinal fluid tests. However, it wouldbe even better to reveal signs of such a disease at an even earlierstage. Researchers from Bonn and Berlin have now taken an importantstep in this direction: They found signs of brain functiondisorders in individuals who merely experience a subjectivedeterioration in memory without any reduced performance beendetectable in objective behavioral tests. The team led by Professor Frank Jessen (Bonn), PrivatdozentinSusanne Erk, and Professor Henrik Walter (both at Charit ) wereable to demonstrate by functional magnetic resonance imaging thatelderly people with subjective memory impairment already showfunctional alterations in the region of the hippocampus. Thehippocampus is a brain structure that is responsible, inter alia,for memory formation and is affected first in Alzheimer's disease.In an experiment, individuals with subjective memory impairmentmanifested reduced activation of the hippocampus during a memorytask. At the same time there was increased activation of the rightfrontal brain. "This increased frontal activation is probably of acompensatory nature," says Prof. Walter, head of the Mind and BrainResearch Division at the Charit Department of Psychiatry andPsychotherapy. "It compensates for the hippocampal deficit, whichmay explain why in the memory tests of this group the performancewas no worse than in a same-age control group without subjectivememory impairment." Prof. Frank Jessen, Department of Psychiatryand Psychotherapy at the Universit tsklinik Bonn, believes theremay be clinical relevance for the future as well: "At least we havethus come closer to our goal of in future backing up the hithertopurely clinical early diagnosis of subjective memory impairment insuspected cases of Alzheimer's disease by conducting noninvasiveobjective brain examinations." Sources: Universit tsmedizin Berlin, AlphaGalileo Foundation. Additional References Citations. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Turbocharger Nozzle Ring , China Turbine Rotor Blades, and more. For more , please visit Turbocharger Diffuser today!
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