UCLA researchers invent first technique to image Alzheim...( imers patients brains. To verify their ...)

"When Alzheimers disease strikes, the memory center is the first location where plaques take root and destroy brain cells," Barrio said. "So its the first place where scientists must seek evidence of the disease."

Before UCLAs discovery, pathologists could make a definitive Alzheimers diagnosis only by brain autopsy. As a result, physicians were able to treat Alzheimers disease only after the disease has already caused apparent damage to the patients memory. Furthermore, early clinical diagnostic methods produced accurate results 55 percent of the time.

"Most forms of dementia clinically look the same," Small said. "But if we can pinpoint the specific form of dementia, we can use the appropriate medication to postpone onset of the disease. This is a major gain."

"Combining the FDDNP marker with PET scans will enable us to better screen participants for clinical trials and produce more accurate research results," Barrio said. "This will bring new drugs to market faster with lower cost and improved accuracy for patients."

Pioneered by Dr. Michael Phelps, UCLA pharmacology chair, PET scans can differentiate Alzheimers disease from the normal effects of aging. A drop in metabolism in one area of the brain indicates decreased activity in that region.

During the one-hour PET procedure, a technologist injects the FDDNP tracer molecule into the patients arm after the patient enters the PET scanner. If lesions are present, the physician will see an accumulation of FDDNP in the brains memory centers.

Barrio and Smalls next step will be to refine the FDDNP-PET scan technique in order to monitor therapeutic drugs. The research team is comparing the PET scans of a larger gr
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Contact: Elaine Schmidt
elaines@support.ucla.edu
310-794-2272
University of California - Los Angeles
9-Jan-2002