Brain function

There are clear differences in brain function between healthy people and Alzheimer's disease patient.

A new research conducted by researchers at The Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) suggest that there are clear differences in brain function between healthy people who carry a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and those who lack the factor.

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People who carry the genetic risk factor, the e 4 allele of the Apolipoprotein (APOE) gene, have higher risk of developing the disease than non-carriers and usually show symptoms earlier.

"It is possible that what we're seeing in the APOE- e4 carriers are early changes in the brain caused by Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher Yaakov Stern was quoted as saying.

The researchers looked at six people who carried the APOE- e4 risk factor and 26 non-carriers. None of the 32 participants, mostly in their 60s and 70s, had any signs of dementia or memory.

PET scans taken while the subjects were performing a memory task, however, showed clear differences between the two groups. As the participants tried to remember if they'd seen a particular shape before, one pattern of brain activation appeared in the APOE- e4 carriers while a different pattern appeared in the non-carriers.