Blood-Brain Barrier Defect A Sign Of Alzheimer's Disease

A new study revealed the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers from the Maastricht University Medical Center showed that a faulty BBB plays a prominent role in neurodegeneration and dementia. 

The recent study, published in Radiology," revealed that the blood-brain barrier is composed of specialized as well as tightly packed endothelial cells. The barrier separates the brain from the circulatory system, in order to protect it from the dangerous pathogens and toxins.

At the same time, the blood-brain barrier monitors the how nutrients are delivered and how a balanced environment is achieved to make sure the central nervous system of the human runs smoothly, as reported by Alzheimer's Today.

The researchers, however, were more interested in the implications of blood-brain barrier leakage. The team utilized a dynamic contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the blood-brain barrier among those with Alzheimer's. They found that among the patients with Alzheimers, the rate of blood-brain barrier leakage is higher compared to those without. 

In addition, the rate of leakage was in line with how great the decline in cognitive performance was among the Alzheimer's patients. The higher the decline, the greater the impairments in BBB. Even though the researchers tried to check if diabetes and other non-cerebral vascular diseases affected this relationship, the results did not change. This implies that blood-brain barrier impairment and Alzheimer's pathology is very strongly related. 

"For Alzheimer's research, this means that a novel tool has become available to study the contribution of blood-brain barrier impairment in the brain to disease onset and progression in early stages or pre-stages of dementia," study author Dr. Walter H. Backes said in a news release.

Recently, more studies have been published on early detection of Alzheimer's. One of these is a blood test that can detect early Alzheimer's risk as reported by NJ.com. It seems that with modern tools, detection ofAlzheimer's before it becomes severely debilitating is now possible. This link between the blood-brain barrier and Alzheimer's contributes to these positive findings.