New Eye Exam for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

Researchers at the university of Minnesota Center for Drug Design have published a study in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science in which a new technique was used to identify Alzeimer's disease in mice by simply taking pictures of their retinae with topical endoscope fundus modified with vision camera and tunable wavelength systems.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disorder in which there is degeneration and death of brain cells resulting in memory loss and cognitive decline. It affects the memory, thinking and vision, as well as body movements and behaviors. The disease occurs when amyloid plaques and tangles buildup in the brain nerve cells. The worst part of this disease is the inability of medical practitioners to see these plaques in the living brain, hence the only diagnosis available for now is through symptoms and by the time these symptoms become obvious, the patient will already have lost some brain function. 

Actually, there is no treatment to prevent amyloid plaques and tangles buildup that causes Alzheimer’s but treatment for some of the symptoms are available. Treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease are also available.
The retina is made up of tissues that are similar and connected to the tissues of the brain. Part of these retinal tissues can be seen directly by looking into the eyes with special eye instruments.

Normal optic disc and blood vessels as seen in a standard retina image.

Alzheimer’s changes the way light is reflected off of the retina and the study showed that in mice this abnormal changes in light reflection starts long before any behavioral or memory changes that accompanies Alzheimer's disease are noticeable. If this new eye exam works in human as it did in mice, then patients with Alzheimer's disease could begin treatment as early as possible in order to slow down the progression of the disease before any symptoms are observed.

The researchers believe that if proven to be effective in human, this technique will be used during an annual eye exam for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and could also serve as the key to developing much-needed drugs for this disease. Their next step is to progress their research to human trials.

Source: www.aao.org