Sydney, July 28 (Inditop.com) A new MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner is helping to advance understanding of Alzheimer’s disease by measuring how the brain works in relation to eye movements.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.
The research being undertaken by the Van der Veer Institute, University of Otago-Christchurch in New Zealand, is among the first to use a new brain scanning technique (arterial spin labelling) which measures the extent of blood flow into different areas of the brain.
The study is also investigating which areas of the brain are activated with fast eye movements. People with Alzheimer’s have different eye movements to those who do not
have the disease.
The MRI scanner magnetically ‘tags’ the blood as it flows up through the neck. Alternatives require the use of radioactive chemicals and a PET (positron emission tomography) scanner, which is expensive.
The blood flow measures can be correlated with other tasks (such as eye movements) that arise from the study.
So far, researchers have found some areas of the brain, such as the parietal lobe, have reduced blood flow because of Alzheimer’s, a finding that corresponds with some of the well-known effects of the disease.
“This new approach to safely measure brain blood flow through MRI may enable physicians and scientists to distinguish between different kinds of dementia,” said Michael MacAskill, chief scientist at the Van der Veer Institute.
