WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've spotted a correlation between mild declines in cognitive ability -- regarded as a strong early predictor of Alzheimer's disease -- and physical changes in the brain.
A team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., autopsied the brains of 15 people with mild cognitive impairment, 23 people with probable Alzheimer's, and 28 people who were cognitively normal.
In the brains of the people with mild cognitive impairment, "the plaques and tangles that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease were present, but in less severity and confined to a specific area, unlike Alzheimer's, in which plaques and tangles are widespread throughout the brain," neuropathologist and researcher Dr. Dennis Dickson said in a prepared statement.
The plaques and tangles result from deposits of abnormal proteins in the brain, which are thought to cause a slow, progressive loss of neurons.
"I think our study provides an anatomical basis for the clinical condition of mild cognitive impairment. This shows that there are structural changes in the brains of people who may develop Alzheimer's disease," researcher and Mayo Clinic neuropathologist Dr. Joseph Parisi said in a prepared statement.
The study appears in the May issue of the Archives of Neurology.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer's disease.
