Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
What
Celebrity names can reveal about the onset
of Alzheimer’s
Newswise — Research that is targeting the early diagnosis
of Alzheimer disease has drawn national
attention to the work of Michael Seidenberg,
PhD, a faculty member at Rosalind Franklin
University of Medicine and Science.
Dr. Seidenberg, a professor in the university’s Department
of Psychology, is the lead author of an
article in the journal Neurology detailing a
study that maps the brain activity of 69
healthy senior men and women, aged 65-85,
including some at higher risk for
Alzheimer’s disease, as they distinguish
between famous and unfamiliar names.
Participants were divided into three groups: those with no
risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, those
with a family history of the disease but no
genetic risk factors and those who not only
have relatives diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,
but who also carry the apolipoprotein e4
gene, which studies have shown increases the
risk of developing the disease.
Published in late August, the two-year study created a
flurry of interest among national media
outlets including online editions of Time
and Newsweek, for its use of celebrity names
in gauging how much effort brains expend in
retrieving information stored in the brain
areas associated with memory.
Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or
fMRI, which offers a view of brain activity
related to a specific task or neural region.
While lying in the scanner, participants
signaled recognition as they listened to a
list of 60 names, half of them well known -
people like Albert Einstein, Britney Spears,
George Clooney and Marilyn Monroe – and half
of them obscure or unfamiliar.
The results were compelling. The control group, which had
no risk factors, exhibited increased brain
activity when confronted with unfamiliar
names. But it was the opposite for those at
high risk. They showed higher levels of
activation when recognizing famous names.
“Even though they are getting to the information as
accurately as people with no risk factors,
their brains are doing something
differently,” Dr. Seidenberg said. “The way
we’re beginning to view this is it’s a
compensatory mechanism to allow them to
perform the task. More activity reflects
that different brain areas are
contributing.”
That hypothesis will be tested by Dr. Seidenberg and his
research partners, scientists from the
Cleveland Clinic, Wayne State University and
the Medical College of Wisconsin, when they
study another group of subjects who will
react to a new list of names. The research
team will examine the changes in brain
activity which has taken place since the
original fMRI session.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study is
one of a series begun approximately seven
years ago, according to Dr. Seidenberg. “We
have hypothesized that you do get different
patterns of activity on fMRI as you look at
people at risk for developing dementia,” Dr.
Seidenberg said. “Bringing this group back
allows us to look at people who are becoming
symptomatic – that are experiencing
day-to-day memory problems – and see what
happens over time to their brain activity.”
A future phase of the research will include a clinical drug
trial in which at-risk subjects will take a
medication which has been shown to have some
success in alleviating symptoms of
Alzheimer’s. Researchers will again
administer fMRI to measure brain activity
during a name recognition task.
This research is at the frontier of treatment for a disease
that poses an increasing threat to the
world’s aging population. The Alzheimer’s
Association estimates that 5.3 million
people in the U.S. and 35 million people
worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s
disease and dementia. According to the 2009
World Alzheimer Report, released by
Alzheimer's Disease International, the
number of people with Alzheimer’s is
expected to nearly double every 20 years, to
65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in
2050.
“It’s a very important topic given the escalating costs
both to society and the individual,” Dr.
Seidenberg said. “We’ve learned so much in
the last 10 years but we have a great deal
still to learn. The advent of new
technologies like fMRI has provided a new
avenue to pursue the issue.”
Dr. Seidenberg hopes the “name game” will ultimately help
delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by
identifying people well before they manifest
symptoms including confusion or memory loss.
“There’s the notion that people are in some pre-Alzheimer
dementia state for several years before they
actually become symptomatic in terms of
overt memory problems,” Dr. Seidenberg said.
“If we can get people before they become
symptomatic using these techniques, we will
be in a better position to successfully
treat them and to delay the onset of the
disease.”
A nationally respected researcher in clinical
neuropsychology, Dr. Seidenberg teaches
courses in brain behavior relationships and
neuropsychological assessment. He notes the
connection between the genetic component of
his team’s research and British researcher
Dr. Rosalind Franklin’s work to identify the
double-helix structure of DNA, which
ultimately revolutionized medical and
genetics research. “Among the risk variables
we’re looking at is people who have a
certain genetic susceptibility,” Seidenberg
said.
The scientist is pleased that his research is bringing
enhanced national visibility to Rosalind
Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
“I feel very fortunate to be collaborating
with other researchers from major
institutions around the country on work that
is really remarkable,” he said.
About Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is a
national leader in interprofessional medical
and healthcare education, comprising the
Chicago Medical School, College of Health
Professions, Dr. William M. Scholl College
of Podiatric Medicine and School of Graduate
and Postdoctoral Studies.
There are more than 16,000 RFUMS degreed graduates in the
United States and worldwide.
... ..
...
...