In vivo Brainstem Imaging in Alzheimer's Disease: Potential for Biomarker Development

The dearth of effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the largest public health issues worldwide, costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year. From a therapeutic standpoint, research efforts to date have met with strikingly little clinical success. One major issue is th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in aging neuroscience 2018-09, Vol.10, p.266-266
Main Authors: Braun, David J, Van Eldik, Linda J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Alzheimer's disease
Biomarkers
Brain research
Brain stem
brainstem
Clinical trials
Cognitive ability
Dementia
Dementia disorders
Disease
imaging
in vivo
locus coeruleus
Medical imaging
Neurodegeneration
Neuroimaging
Neuropathology
Neuroscience
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Pathology
Public health
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Summary:The dearth of effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the largest public health issues worldwide, costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year. From a therapeutic standpoint, research efforts to date have met with strikingly little clinical success. One major issue is that trials begin after substantial pathological change has occurred, and it is increasingly clear that the most effective treatment regimens will need to be administered earlier in the disease process. In order to identify individuals within the long preclinical phase of AD who are likely to progress to dementia, improvements are required in biomarker development. One potential area of research that might prove fruitful in this regard is the detection of brainstem pathology. The brainstem is known to undergo pathological changes very early and progressively in AD. With an updated and harmonized AD research framework, and emerging advances in neuroimaging technology, the potential to leverage knowledge of brainstem pathology into biomarkers for AD will be discussed.
ISSN:1663-4365
1663-4365
DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2018.00266