阿尔茨海默病脑部变化可早于淀粉样蛋白斑块出现7年以上

挪威奥斯陆大学研究团队发现，阿尔茨海默病相关的脑部结构变化可能比淀粉样蛋白斑块的出现早至少7年1。研究人员通过对健康老年人进行近20年的定期脑部MRI扫描跟踪，识别出了这些早期信号1。该研究来自奥斯陆大学心理学系生命周期脑和认知变化中心1。

研究人员詹姆斯·迈克尔·罗（James Michael Roe）指出："我们发现脑部结构变化发生在PET扫描上看到高水平斑块的许多年之前"1。现有的PET扫描可能不够敏感，无法捕捉疾病的最初阶段1。研究表明存在两种可能的解释：一是导致斑块积累或由其引起的有害过程已经活跃；二是其他生物过程可能在淀粉样蛋白开始积累前就导致脑部变化1。这些发现有助于更早地识别和治疗阿尔茨海默病1。

Researchers at the University of Oslo have identified structural changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease that may begin at least seven years before amyloid plaques become visible on standard imaging 1. Through nearly two decades of regular brain MRI scans tracking healthy older adults, scientists from the university's Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC) documented these early warning signals, suggesting that current PET scanning technology may lack sufficient sensitivity to detect the disease's earliest stages 1.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, indicate that existing diagnostic approaches could miss critical opportunities for early intervention 1. According to James Michael Roe, a member of the research team, "We found that structural brain changes occur many years before high levels of plaques are visible on PET scans" 1. The research points to two possible explanations for this temporal gap: either the harmful biological processes that lead to plaque accumulation or result from it are already active in the brain, or alternative biological mechanisms may trigger structural changes before amyloid begins to accumulate 1. These insights could facilitate earlier identification and treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease 1.