Categories: Health

Brain has a weak spot for Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia, say researchers

British researchers have identified a weak spot in the brain which is responsible for developing Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

According to the scientists who have pinpointed the region using scans, the brain area involved develops late in adolescence and degenerates early during ageing.

At the moment, it is difficult for doctors to predict which people might develop either condition.

The findings, in the journal PNAS, hint at a potential way to diagnose those at risk earlier, experts say.

Although they caution that “much more research is needed into how to bring these exciting discoveries into the clinic”.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) team who carried out the study did MRI brain scans on 484 healthy volunteers aged between 8 and 85 years.

The researchers, led by Dr. Gwenaëlle Douaud of Oxford University, looked at how the brain naturally changes as people age.

The images revealed a common pattern – the parts of the brain that were the last to develop were also the first to show signs of age-related decline.

These brain regions – a network of nerve cells or grey matter – co-ordinate “high order” information coming from the different senses, such as sight and sound.

When the researchers looked at scans of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and scans of patients with schizophrenia they found the same brain regions were affected.

The findings fit with what other experts have suspected – that although distinct, Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia are linked.

Prof. Hugh Perry of the MRC said: “Early doctors called schizophrenia <<premature dementia>> but until now we had no clear evidence that the same parts of the brain might be associated with two such different diseases. This large-scale and detailed study provides an important, and previously missing, link between development, ageing and disease processes in the brain.

“It raises important issues about possible genetic and environmental factors that may occur in early life and then have lifelong consequences. The more we can find out about these very difficult disorders, the closer we will come to helping sufferers and their families.”

Kathryn R. Bown

Kathryn - Our health specialist likes to share with the readers the latest news from the field. Nobody understands better than her the relation between healthy mind and healthy body.

Recent Posts

Spain: At Least 158 Killed In The Country’s Worst Flooding Disaster

At least 158 people have died in Spain's worst flooding disaster in generations. On October…

2 days ago

Russia Fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, Surpassing Global GDP

Google has been fined two undecillion (a two followed by 36 zeroes) roubles by a…

2 days ago

Financing Your Home Remodel: 7 Tips for Success

Embarking on a home remodel is an exciting journey, promising enhanced comfort, increased property value,…

2 weeks ago

Donald Trump Serves Up McDonald’s Fries While Kamala Harris Celebrates 60th Birthday with Church Choir

The US presidential candidates continued to campaign across key swing states on October 20. Footage…

2 weeks ago

America PAC: Elon Musk Promises to Award $1M Each Day to Swing States Voters

Elon Musk has said he will give away $1 million a day to a registered…

2 weeks ago

Canada Expels 6 Indian Diplomats Amid Khalistan Row

India and Canada have decided to expel their top envoys along with other diplomats as…

3 weeks ago