A new study carried out at Washington University in St. Louis, and published in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, shows that patients with this condition display signs of increasing difficulties with navigation, long before a clinical diagnosis is possible.
Since the results show that people develop changes in the brain related to this task, specifically their capacity to build, store and access mental maps of their surroundings was found to be somewhat reduced, which can be identified by looking at biomarkers found in spinal fluids and the brain.
Since the results show that people develop changes in the brain related to this task, specifically their capacity to build, store and access mental maps of their surroundings was found to be somewhat reduced, which can be identified by looking at biomarkers found in spinal fluids and the brain.
Researchers believe that if the disease is detected earlier, there can be more possible and effective treatments, which is why the research into the causes, effects and possible treatment for Alzheimer’s has been intensifying for decades, investigating the detectable effects Alzheimer’s has on the brain, prior to the condition presenting with the kinds of symptoms that lead to standard clinical diagnoses.
The study
The researchers compared in their study the performance in simulated tests between 16 adults with early stage Alzheimer’s, 13 with preclinical Alzheimer’s and 42 with no sign of the disease, finding to link the condition with mental mapping and navigation.
The participants were given 20 minutes to explore a maze or learn a specific route, and then, they were tested on certain landmarks, directions, and pathways they could remember. The team tested all of the participants’ ability to a virtual maze navigation test for approximately for two hours, focusing on two navigational abilities.
The spatial navigation task used in this study to test the participant’s capacity to have cognitive maps was more sensitive at detecting preclinical Alzheimer’s disease than the standard psychometric task of episodic memory, which detects the clinical disease.
According to Samantha Allison, a psychology doctoral student at Washington University and the study’s lead author, the results of the study show that the preclinical disease is characterized by hippocampal atrophy and associated cognitive mapping difficulties, particularly during the learning phase.
“These findings suggest that navigational tasks designed to assess a cognitive mapping strategy could represent a powerful new tool for detecting the very earliest Alzheimer’s disease-related changes in cognition,” wrote associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, Denise Head.
The medical and scientific communities are hoping that by studying the disease as the first signs of Alzheimer’s start showing, it may be possible to slow or halt its progression entirely, since, as the disease progresses, cognitive mapping deficits get worse and route learning deficits emerge.
The average cost for taking care of somebody with the condition for a year is around $60,000, which is more than many American citizens make in two years. This is also the main reason why researchers are tirelessly working to find a cure, a treatment, or anything that could make the condition even slightly more bearable.